Rescue Olympics: Teaching the People How to Survive

Rescue Olympics – RescueLympics
2011 document no. 1

OBJECTIVES:

Promote widespread awareness of the significance of Life-Saving and Self Rescue among young to old, male and female members of the population

Increase the chances of the members of the population for safety, survival

Increase fingertip knowledge, knowhow, basic skills in avoidance of danger situations and minimization of risks in their own immediate environment and in the community as a whole.
Raise public consciousness of global problems of loss of life and injury arising from unsafe practices, hazards in the environment among other important considerations.

Engage in continuing, improved information and education campaign to increase level of the public’s preparedness and attunement to forecasts of disaster, emergencies and other unforeseen hazardous events – natural or human-made

Combine, pool talent, resources, time, commitments in order to effect successful life saving undertakings in limited conditions.

Expose Rescue Teams and Individual Rescuer to new methods and techniques and Increase knowledge, proficiency in Search, in Rescue, Life Saving and Recovery

Develop bonding and camaraderie between and among Rescue Teams

Create a functional, interactive-cooperative network among Rescue Teams and the Individual Members of the various participating Rescue Teams

Challenge trained rescue - emergency service personnel and bring them to world class fitness and proficiency.

Strongly encourage private sector participation in promoting and evolving Search, Rescue-Life Saving and Recovery

“During time of calamity, disaster, Run! Do not think of any other considerations. Save your life, save yourself.” – Sec. Voltaire T. Gazmin, Department of National Defense

“Be prepared for calamity, Be prepared for disaster. Prepare a survival kit consisting of first aid, your important documents, etc.” – Philippine media, Private Corporate and Public Sector agency advocates for preparedness

It can never be enough to exhort people to run. It is not enough to admonish people to be prepared and gather things into a “rescue kit” and run, escape danger when disaster comes.

It is very important to introduce specific ideas, actions, skills, concepts to the entire population slowly, gradually what it will be required to be able to save one’s self from harm and danger before the onset of and during a disaster as well as after the catastrophe has occurred.

However, it is most exceedingly also important that the population has access to public warning systems.

METHODOLOGY:

Conduct nationwide Search for Finalists for Rescue Olympics through the following intramurals:
1. Bureau of Fire Inter-Regional Rescue Competition
2. Fire Brigade Volunteers Rescue Competition
3. Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Civilian Rescue Team Competitions
4. NDRRMC-National Government Accredited Public and Private Rescue Agencies, Organizations

5. Conduct the National Championship Competitions for the best Rescue Team in the main event called Rescue Olympics

ELIMINATIONS:

The skilled Rescue Teams shall qualify and participate in various challenges each year. The following are the games or challenges:

1. Extrication of Victim-Casualty trapped below ground 
2. Extrication of Victim-Casualty on water 
3. Extrication of Victim-Casualty trapped at high angle 
Each team shall consist of six player-members:
1.  The Team Leader
2.  Medic
3.  Two Technical Rescue Personnel; and,
4.  One Personnel in charge of admin support to operations.

During RECUELYMPICS, the Teams are presented several and unique conditions that challenge their capability to immediately and on-the-spot, form a Rescue Operational Plan (Rescue OP) and successfully extricate the casualty in the allotted time.

The scenarios include the following:

30 minutes Complex Rescue
20 minutes Equipment No Holds Barred
20 minutes Equipment By Selection Only
10 minutes Race Against Time

GAME CATEGORIES

1 – Urban Rescue
2 – Water Borne Rescue
3 – Air Borne Rescue
4 – Mass Casualty Incident Rescue
5 – Highlands / Mountain Rescue


SAFETY - RESCUE SKILL COMPETITIONS:

Low Angle Rescue
Victim Extraction
Life Saving Individual
Life Saving Group
Underground River Triage

Water Borne Rescue
Life Saving Individual
Life Saving Group
Water Borne Triage

Air Borne Rescue
Life Saving Individual
Life Saving Group
Air Borne Triage

High Angle Rescue
Rope Transfer
Rappelling
Rope Ascending
Triage
Mid-Air Rope Transfer
Wall Climb
Mountain Climb
Mass Casualty Incident Rescue
Life Saving Individual
Life Saving Group
Triage

OTHER COMPETITIONS

CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS - ALL CATEGORIES
Champion Rescue Team (First Place)
First Runner Up Rescue Team (Second Place)
Second Runner Up Rescue Team (Third Place)
Best in Overall Water Rescue Award
Best in Overall Ground Rescue Award
Best in High Altitude Rescue Award

CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS
Best in Life Saving Individual
Best in Life Saving Group
Best in Underground River Triage
Other Ground, Water and High Altitude Rescue AwardsBest in Triage
Best in Extraction
Best in Cave Triage
Best in Rope Transfer Award
Best in Rappelling Award
Best in Rope Ascending Award
Best in Mid-Air Rope Transfer Award
Awards for Other Various competition events

Acknowledgments:
The template of the Rescue Olympics Urban Rescue Category for Metro Manila draws nearly its entire contest concept and rules from the Mine Safety and Health Administration of the United States and Leon County, State of Florida Rescue policies and procedures - Glossary of important terms.

To all of the individuals and organizations that provided useful ideas and concepts that cannot all be named here the authors would like to express their heartfelt gratitude.

July 5, 2014

Centre Humanes + Societas

centrehumanes@gmail.com

communitysafetysummit@yahoo.com

asiacommunications@msn.com

09212261611
09162728844
09174760651

Vital installations down from Glenda, threatened by coming typhoons

It has been forewarned on July 13, 2014 that power utility installations will be among the physical facilities that will sustain the most damage from the tropical storm / typhoon #Rammasun or #Glenda. This kind of phenomenon will keep repeating itself over and over with the advent of more intense weather and climate disturbances in this new millennium.

Shown below is the portrait of damaged power utility facilities inside BF Homes Parañaque and Las Piñas alone:

July 17, 2014

In areas around the rest of the country and in South China (lowermost photo), the impact of Glenda on installations was staggering. (Photo credits: ANC - Yahoo; AvaxNews - Adrian Ayalin; Philippine Daily Inquirer; Straits Times; Xinhua News

July 15-18, 2014

July 19, 2014

Global Geohazard System

Environmental Risks, Forecasting

 View in pdf form or download file from here

Supersites (eathquake sites) of the world scientific community has a interactive map showing the areas where big earthquakes are predicted to happen. Click the image to visit Supersites:

The forecast of members of the scientific community that massive casualties will be experienced in the next big disaster that will hit the Philippines is accurate.

One of the greatest concerns is that the target of the next big one is the Philippines national capital region: Metropolitan Manila.

With a nighttime population of more than 12 million, in daytime Metro Manila has a population volume of nearly 20 million or higher during peak seasons.

Metro Manila is also home to many international agency headquarters such as the Asian Development Bank and all the home offices of foreign embassies are located in the capital region.

Too many factors can account for the exactitude and correctness of the prediction of massive casualties – not the least amongst them, the lack of state-of-the-art data and information ferreting equipment. Scientific expertise and knowhow in the use of new technology for tidal wave, weather, seismic event, volcanic eruption forecasting is not necessarily lacking in the Philippines.

However, it must be conceded that the Philippines does not have enough or adequate experience in handling satellite launch, management and earth observation operations.

To compound the problem ten-folds it is learned through the media, that intervention by interest groups in purveying vital data to the public about earthquake faults, the shameless impunity with which big companies are shunting regulations against building big structures on top of sites highly vulnerable to earthquake faults, also compound the danger of the Philippines suffering a large multitude of people getting killed during a big disaster incident involving the shaking of the Marikina West Valley Fault System.  More > >


Source: Post Disaster: The Quest for Rehabilitation

hmes2013: Will there be more Negros, Bohol Killer Quakes?

Source: http://www.hazmapping.com

From over 40 casualties, the death toll has risen to nearly 100 in the Carmen, Bohol Province-Cebu City earthquake. At that figure, the Carmen-Cebu tremor can qualify as a Killer Quake. Cebu and nearby areas has to be declared to be in a state of calamity. There are limited manuevers that aircraft can make at the Cebu airport due to the cracking and opening up of the airport's runways.

The six million dollar question is: how many more incidents like those in Carmen, Bohol and Cebu City and the other ones in Leyte, Samar will we be expecting?

Were the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs) prepared adequately enough with equipment to monitor ground movement, tectonic plate disturbance, the nearly 100 deaths could have been avoided. 27 Billion Philippine Pesos is earmarked for pork barrel in the 2014 General Appropriations Act out of a total expenditure program of 2.26 Trillion Philippine Pesos. Would it be difficult to allocate even half of that pork barrel budget for emergency preparedness, disaster risk reduction, equipment upgrade?

Past Warnings of Big Disaster

This site has been warning the public for more than four years since the time of the former President, Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Due to the total torpedoing of the private sector (Corinthian Gardens, Forbes Park, Dasmarinas Village, the owners of high rise condominiums at the left side of EDSA southbound, among others), of the program for predicting highly lethal effects of a major tremor in Metro Manila and the replication of this effort in many urban areas in the country by the same sector in collusion with some corrupt officials in the government, a large disaster and environmental hazards summit was proposed to be supported by the Philippine Government and the United Nations, among other institutions from many other sectors - including the non-profit (minus the Napoles et al NGOs).

Wanting responses

It is reiterated that in the time of Mrs. Arroyo, only the then Administrator of the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), Ms. Elaine Bautista, now Mrs. Horn, had the small effort to make an email message to the proponents of the 2010 Disaster and Environmental Hazards Mapping Summit. And that was only because the United Nations Environment Programm (UNEP)  told the former Ms. Bautista to get in touch with HMES 2010 organizing group. At the time, concurrent to her post in MARINA, Ms. Bautista was considered a friend of UNEP and a significant point person for the Philippine Government in relation to selected UNEP concerns - particularly about emergency and assistance.

When Mr. Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino 3rd became President, the organizing group wrote to Ms. Corazon Juliano Soliman of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Gen. Voltaire Tuvera Gazmin. Ms. Soliman did not respond. It was noticed however that several days later, Gen. Gazmin, the Secretary of the Department of National Defense gave an interview to national media.

In that interview, when Gazmin was asked about what the people should do when a disaster strikes, he replied: "Run for your lives."

Carrying the barest minimum luggage in their bodies, the poor, helpless people in above photos must have taken advice similar to that of Gen. Voltaire Gazmin's to leave and forget belongings elsewhere and to "run for your lives."

It will appear that the kind of response the government has given is exceedingly wanting in substance. It is hoped however that as a grandfather and parent, Gazmin to no fault of his own was merely showing his personal concern for the safety of the life of the average citizen. He was probably very well-meaning and was admonishing the people not to bring their television sets, beds, furniture, cash safety vaults, washing machines, cabinets, sofa, stoves with their fuel gas tanks, desk-stand-ceiling fans, air conditioners, desktop computers and refrigerators outside of their homes and instead to proceed to a more safe location and be saved in time of major catastrophe.

The head of the Philvolcs, Dr. Renato Solidum absolutely cannot be faulted and is blameless. For decades, had been ready to accept the support for equipment upgrade and modernization. Despite the billions of funds allocated to the departments of the government, the great oversight of perpetually forgetting to take care of the Philvolcs modernization programme has consistently been committed by this government.

Despite the billions lost for the personal enrichment of selected persons in our public sector and their intimate partners in very enterprising undertakings in the private sector, no one has shown keen interest in allowing the Philvolcs to finally get hold of the adequate funding for acquisition of hardware and software that will highly increase its forecasting accuracy and its earthquake trending studies and research on the major faults all over the country. Click here for more.