PES Launches First Disaster Response Exercise For CERTs

LAHORE, (Muzaffargarh.City – 28th Nov, 2017 ) :Punjab Emergency Service Rescue 1122) DG Dr. Rizwan Naseer on Tuesday inaugurated first provincial disaster response exercise for Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) registered as Rescue Mohafiz at Emergency Services academy, Rescue 1122.

The purpose of the exercise is to asses, analyze, evaluate and encourage the best CERTs and Rescue Mohafiz based on imparted Community Action for Disaster Response (CADRE) skills at district level.

The DG Rescue said the exercise would raise the competition among teams on standardized CADRE course which would ultimately enhance the capacity of the volunteers on disaster response at grass root level and it would be further helpful in execution of next year community resilience plan by the CERTs.

The Provincial Disaster Response Exercise (PDRE) 2017 is structured exercise based on emergency scenarios and each CERT is being participated in all three phases of the exercise including pre-operation phase, operation phase and post operation phase, he said.

The selected participants for completion are demonstrating their skills on all phases of emergency response at community level and complete scenarios related to Management of Mass Causality Incident (MCI), light search and rescue, basic life support and first aid, response to fire and water emergencies.

The winner CERTs would be awarded with certificates and prizes on International Volunteer Day organized by Rescue 1122 in collaboration with partner organizations like Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and Humanetek for Mohafiz.

Earlier, all District Emergency Officers (DEOs) were provided complete exercise plan to select the best team of their respective district and sent for provincial competition. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERTs) from all districts of Punjab consisting of 252 Rescue Mohafiz will participate in the provincial competition.

On the first day, CERTs from Sargodha, Mianwali, Khushab, Bhakkar, Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin Din, Okara, Pakpattan, Sahiwal, Vehari, Khanewal, and Lodhran are being evaluated. The CERTs from Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum, Chakwal, D.G Khan, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Layyah, Multan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and R.Y Khan would be evaluated on second day of exercise, whereas the CERTs from District Lahore, Kasur, Sheikhupura, Nankana Saab, Faislabad, Jhang, Chiniot, TT Singh, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Narowal would be evaluated on final day of exercise.

The DG Rescue congratulated the community safety wing headquarters, all DEOs and RSOs for accomplishment of registration of 100,000 Rescue Mohafiz and training of 30,000 Rescue Mohafiz to establish CERTs in all Union Councils of Punjab.