Sh Rashid invites Punjab Emergency Service to launch services in Islamabad
Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed congratulated Pakistan Rescue Team (PRT) and said it is a great honour for Pakistan that Pakistan Rescue Team has become the first team in South Asia to get United Nations INSARAG Certification.
He invited Dr Rizwan, DG Emergency Service for signing an MOU between Islamabad and Rescue 1122 Punjab to establish Emergency Service in Islamabad and serve Islamabad as much as rescue service served to the country.
He also committed to provide 20 Ambulances to start Service in Islamabad on same pattern of Punjab.
He highly appreciated the simulators established in the Academy for training of rescuers and wished to have integrated emergency management system like ambulance, fire and rescue and motorbike ambulance service in Islamabad.
He made these comments at the 2nd Anniversary of UN Certification and appreciated the efforts of Dr Rizwan Naseer and his Team for this milestone achievement.
The Interior Minister said that the journey of emergency reforms that was started from Interior Ministry through Dr Rizwan Naseer. Now, it is available to the public in form of Rescue Services and Emergency Services Academy.
Rescue 1122 has rescued 10 million of emergency victims since its inception and established the Emergency Service Academy which has so far provided special training to more than 20,000 emergency professionals from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Baluchistan and Sindh.
Sheikh Rasheed congratulated the Team Leader and Deputy Team Leader of PRT over establishment of 36 Light Search & Rescue Teams (USARTs) in every District of Punjab in line with guidelines of United Nations International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) standards for disaster response.
He was addressing to the 2nd Anniversary of UN INSARAG Certification of Pakistan Rescue Team held at Emergency Services Academy here on Thursday.
DG PESD Dr Rizwan Naseer, Divisional Emergency Officers, District Emergency Officers, Rescue Officers from Headquarters, Academy, Instructors, Team Members of PRT, rescuers, media persons and a large number of rescue cadets were also present at the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Interior Minister said that every member of the Pakistan Rescue Team from top to bottom deserves appreciation as everybody has its own role to meet the international standards for emergency preparedness and response.
He said that Rescue Academy has organized 10 National Rescue Challenges, four National Volunteer Challenges and one SAARC Rescue Challenge to enhance the capacity building in order to respond to major emergencies at regional and national levels.
We witnessed the helplessness in Earthquake of 2005 when urban search & rescue teams were called for from foreign countries, today, under the leadership of Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan PRT is to combat any disaster & tragedies that is a clear indication that Pakistan is on the path of development.
At this occasion, the Commander PRT Dr Rizwan Naseer highlighted the journey started in 2005 for the establishment of the First Disaster Response Team after the devastating Earthquake of 2005.
This certification was a several years’ process under the supervision of a Mentor assigned by the UN-INSARAG Secretariat to train and supervise the Disaster Emergency Response Team as per best international practices and then after periodical evaluations by UN INSARAG Observers.
Finally, a team of United Nations International Classifiers from Austria, England, Germany, Switzerland, Morocco, Jordan, and United Nations – INSARAG Secretariat in Geneva came to Lahore from 28th to 31st October 2019 for final 36 hours exercise evaluation of the Team and Representative from United Nations OCHA INSARAG Secretariat Geneva Switzerland Mr Winston Chang officially declared that the “Pakistan Rescue Team stands tall amongst the world elite as officially UN Classified Urban Search & Rescue Team”.
Commander PRT appreciated the efforts of Team Leader PRT Dr Farhan Khalid and Deputy Team Leader Muhammad Ahsan for preparing plan for 36 Search and Rescue Teams and presented certificates to all members of the team.
He acknowledged the support of UN OCHA Pakistan, UN INSARAG Secretariat, mentors, classifiers, and national organizations make this certification possible.
