An exercise aimed at obtaining International Response Capability Certification abroad to provide humanitarian assistance was conducted from Friday until today by Civil Defence.
In her address, Maria Papa, Civil Defence Commander, said that the exercise was conducted as part of the process of certification of Cyprus and Civil Defence by INSARAG of the United Nations OCHA as capable of responding to search and rescue incidents following an earthquake abroad.
This is the second act of an effort that started many years ago to recognize and certify our Rescue Teams as INSARAG Classified Teams and this recognition now makes our rescue team members as professional rescuers," he said.
He added that "for this purpose we have been working very hard in close collaboration with our mentor Peter Goxharaj from Germany and his team for the last 3 to 4 years."
He added that "we have been working very hard in close collaboration with our mentor Peter Goxharaj from Germany and his team for the last 3 to 4 years. The whole process involved countless hours of hard work and training by all involved, our mentors, volunteers and permanent staff of the Cyprus Civil Defence."
He further stated that "the certification process is an arduous process that involves defining procedures, securing equipment and training the members of the rescue teams. I hope that this effort will have a happy ending and that the Cyprus Civil Defence through the Larnaca Rescue Team will be granted recognition and certification as qualified to respond to crisis response mobilizations abroad," she said.
Papa thanked "everyone for their contribution and especially our mentor from Germany for his support and guidance."
Papa thanked "everyone for their contribution and especially our mentor from Germany for his support and guidance. Without their help we would not be here today," she concluded.
Delegates from various countries from the international organization OCHA who are evaluating the Civil Defence team expressed their satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise and wished them good luck in obtaining the International Certification.
Civil Defence volunteer rescuer George Evangelou said that the exercise started on Friday afternoon and ends today, Sunday, and according to its scenario the Republic of Cyprus was asked to respond to another country for assistance after a devastating earthquake.
The Republic of Cyprus responded with a team of 20 rescuers and, according to the procedures in place, on Friday afternoon the departure of the team was completed with all the necessary checks required to be done at the airport, namely passports, checking vaccination certificates, equipment and others.
On Saturday morning the team of the Republic of Cyprus, which was the first country to arrive in the country that requested assistance, had to set up a reception and briefing base for the other teams that were going there from various foreign countries.
Mr. Evangelou also noted that according to the scenario the team of the Republic of Cyprus had to take over a specific sector to which to respond by setting up a camp where 20 people could live.
He said that since Friday afternoon until today, several exercises and scenarios have been carried out in various places, while the volunteers are already overworked.
He added that the effort to obtain the International Certification is a huge process and today's exercise is related to the rescue of an injured person who fell down a ten-meter deep elevator shaft.
After being briefed on the scenario of the exercise, those present, including MPs and a representative of the Provincial Administration, watched part of it.
Source: CNA
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