AKAH team’s week-long training course ends

LAHORE : The Emergency Services Academy (ESA) (Rescue-1122) organised training of Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) Syria Search and Rescue Team from October 24 to 29, 2022. : A total 13 members including nine from Syria and four from Pakistan attended the week-long course on Search & Rescue Strategies and Techniques by United Nations INSARAG certified Search and Rescue Experts of Emergency Services Academy.

The week-long training course was organised on request of the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat team. The purpose of this course was to train AKAH Search & Rescue (SAR) team in Disaster Response as per international standards.

The Secretary, Emergency Services Dr Rizwan Naseer congratulated them on successful completion of the course. He said that it is very sad what has happened in Syria. We know that our Syrian brothers and sisters are going through a difficult time which is challenging situation.

In this challenging situation, the Emergency Services Academy is here to provide all possible technical support to Syrian brothers and sisters. “I am sure that the practical life-saving & rescue skills learned in this course will be helpful in real rescue operations in Syria in case of any emergent situation”. Emergency Services Academy shall provide all possible technical support to AKAH Syria and Pakistan in the field of Specialised Search and Rescue and Emergency Management in future too. On closing ceremony Team Manager AKAH Inayat Jan, Registrar Academy Dr M Farhan Khalid, Syria team participants and academy instructor were present in the ceremony.

Secretary, Emergency Services Dr Rizwan Naseer further said that Emergency Services Academy is pleased to enhance capacity building of National, Regional and International Teams. Rescue 1122 has also provided training Support to Sri Lanka and Tajikistan through the UN-INSARAG Certified USAR Team of ESA. He appreciated the interest of AKAH management especially CEO AKAH Syria Salman Shah for his personal interest in capacity building on the Syrian Search & Rescue Team.

Team Manager AKAH Inayat Jan appreciated the capacity of Emergency Services Academy and said its really amazing experience of witnessing world class training simulators and expertise of the trainers in the Academy. Furthermore, he said that the Emergency Management & Dispatch System (EMDS), the Provincial Monitoring System of the Service and Community Emergency Response Team Program is commendable.

He also congratulated Pakistan Rescue Team on UN certification. The team leader thanked Secretary Emergency Services, course instructors and staff of Emergency Services Academy on behalf of the Syrian team. At the end, Secretary Emergency Services awarded certificates to the successful participants for completion of the training.