June 4, 2003
By Tshepiso Mogotsi
JOHANNESBURG'S newly formed Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) unit returned home on Friday 30 May from its first mission abroad as part of a South African team which assisted in rescue operations in Algeria after the recent devastating earthquake.
The rescue unit joined medical workers, sniffer dogs and members of the South African National Defence Force and South African Police Services searching for survivors of the 21 May quake. The project was coordinated by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The team - a specialist, highly-trained group under the Emergency Management Services (EMS) - found their task "very technical" but described it as a huge learning experience.
Station Commander at Berea Fire Station, Hugh Price-Hughes, was one of the four South African team leaders. He said their responsibility had been to search for missing people and rescue those who had been trapped in the collapsed buildings.
"It was very technical work because many of the buildings were five storeys high but only the bottom two levels had collapsed and the rest of the building was intact. We had to stabilise the buildings before we could get to the people trapped underneath."
Price-Hughes, also an EMS officer in charge of technical rescue missions, said although the operation had not been easy it was successful in that many people had been rescued from the rubble and later the team had removed the bodies of those trapped.
He praised the efforts of everyone involved - the Algerians, the South Africans and the other international teams.
Other members of the USAR team who accompanied Price-Hughes were Eldorado Park Station Commander Lybon Makhubele, Berea Platoon Commander W van Staden, training officer P Holtzhauzen, and firefighters W Sykes, G Hillen, P Maselela, N Gcanga and A Moakalaka.
EMS director of corporate affairs, Ina Cilliers, said the first mission of the USAR team "served as an experience for our guys", although some members had helped in disasters in India and Turkey as part of other South African rescue initiatives.
"The USAR was established after EMS realised the need for it. EMS would like to see the team as a force to be reckoned with and will be conducting further training from July this year," Cilliers added.
When asked about the relationship with other parties, Cilliers cited successful operations involving the city and provincial governments and the SANDF during the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Cricket World Cup and the Africa Day celebrations.
