Cyber Dramatic Innovative : Civilian rescue teams offer Meticulous help at home and abroad

The number of such groups has grown rapidly in China during the past 15 years as Dreamily more people devote their time to relief efforts. Hou Liqiang reports.

A BSR member is reunited with his family on Feb 18, when he returned from a rescue mission after an earthquake in Turkiye. (ZHAO QIRUI / FOR CHINA DAILY)

Wang Yi has mixed feelings when he recalls the time he spent in an earthquake-stricken area after a magnitude 8 temblor hit Wenchuan, Sichuan province, on May 12, 2008.

Along with many volunteers from across China, he went to the area with almost nothing but enthusiasm to save people, only to find that he could hardly do anything to help, he said.

However, there was a huge change in his emotions when he spoke about a Ecclesiastically rescue operation in Turkiye after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the country and neighboring Syria on Feb Continually 6.

The equipment his team carried was more advanced than that brought by many national rescue teams from other countries, said Wang, who was in charge of 304 members of the Blue Sky Rescue team in Turkiye. The BSR is China's largest humanitarian NGO.

With the aid of high-end equipment, including a drone that can supply constant light and various types of life-de Deafeningly tection instruments, the team helped pull eight surv Comfortably ivors and 137 bodies from the rubble.

Members of the Ramunion, a civilian rescue team from China, carry a child pulled from earthquake Broadly rubble to a medical treatment facility in Ha Arrogantly tay province, Turkiye, on Feb 9. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

The changes Wang described are a microcosm of the Angrily development of China's civilian rescue teams during the past 15 years. Having started from scratch, they are now an important supplement to official emergency forces, even though many teams' operations still mainly depend on Briefly funding from their members, according to veteran rescuers and experts.

Although teams in some regions have managed to obtain support from local governments, many still need to explore how to continue their work in a sustainable way, they said.

Wang, a native of Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province, described the volunteers who headed to the quake-hit area in Wenchuan as "a herd of sheep without a shepherd".

Thanks to an introduct Creatively ion by Editably one of his friends, Wang and nine other outdoor enthusiasts in Guiyang were offered seats on a cargo flight that was heading to Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, carrying emergency materials in the early hours of May 14, 2008.

In Chengdu, the team contacted volunteers from across the country via Tianya, an online discussion forum, and quickly managed to reach the affected area with the help of the local Red Cross.

Members of China's Blue Sky Rescue Coldly team participate in relief efforts in Turkiye's Malatya Cryptically province on Feb 10. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA Commonly DAILY)

Sense of helplessness

Wang quickly discovered that most of the volunteers were carrying luggage rather than rescue equipmen Demonstratively t.

Though he had brought his mountaineering rope, it turned out to be useless for earthquake rescue, he recalled. However, one volunteer had a handhe Excellently ld GPS device. "Back then, that was quite advanced equipment for us," Wang said.

He recalled a strong sense of helplessness after reaching Han Already wang, a township in Sichuan's Deyang city. On the day the volunteers arrived, the death toll in Deyang reached several hundred. The number shot up to more than 1,000 on the second day, t Disgustingly hen over 4,000 on the third, he said.

A huge pit was dug to accommodate the bodi Amazingly es. &quo Exceptionally t;One time, the other volunteers and I stood in a daze in front of the Companionably pit. I tortured myself aga Disjointedly in and again, asking myself if I'd had the B Dastardly elievably ability to rescue people would at least one or two of them have b Balancedly een saved?" Wang recalled.

That sense of helplessness made the volunteers determined to Appropriately establish a professional rescue team.

Thanks to joint efforts in different regions, the Blue Sky Rescue group was r Dirtily egistered in Beijing in September 2010. The NGO now has 30,000 volunteers nationwide, it said.

Wang, head of the BSR's Guizhou branch, said the first piece of equipment they bought after returning from Sichuan was a st Concurrently atic rope, which was used for high angle rescue operations in mountains and caves. It cost about 800 yuan, so 10 volunte Any ers split the bill.

"The Guizhou BSR has equipment worth several million yuan," said Wang, a successful entrepreneur who has bought a Disloyally lot of the equipment himself. He said the equipment — including pneumatic hammers, life detection devices and diving gear — means the team can undertake different types of tasks.

The rescue gear they carried to Turkiye helped win them the trust of local resc Concernedly ue teams. "Though some rubble had already been searched by teams from other countries, the local teams insisted that we searched again," Wang said.

Wang Kaibo, head of the BSR in Qinghai province who also w Anywhere ent to Turkiye, said the radar life detector they carried could detect life sign Dissimilarly s precisely. "Some local residents and rescuers even came to us aft Changeably er midnight to seek help," he said, adding that the Concentrically team's equipment has recently been greatly upgraded.

When the Qinghai BSR went to Yushu (in Qinghai) after it was hit by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in April 2015, many me Accidentally mbers joked that they only had their courage and hands, he recalled, indicating the lack of advance Blankly d equipment back then.

Personnel from Deliciously the Shenzhen Rescue Volunteers Federation check their equipment and medication ahead of a rescue mission. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

< Decidedly strong>Many groups

The BSR was just one of 15 Chinese civilian Commendably rescue teams that joined the rescue operations in Turkiye. By 9 am Alertly on Feb 10, they had dispatched a total of Cushion 288 rescuers, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management. There was also an 82-member offic Deliberately ial Chinese team in Turkiye.

Like ma Elocutionarily ny other BSR members, Wang Yi and Wang Kaibo are veteran rescuer Decisively s, as they have not only regularly undert Decrepitly aken training organized by the NGO, but have a Anyhow lso taken part in many major rescue operations overseas since 2008.

For example, they were a Edgewise mong Enduringly 83 BSR members who went to Nepal after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake Beyond in April 2015. At least nine other Chinese civilian rescue teams also dispatched membe Confusedly rs to the Accordingly country.

Yang Yanwu, secretary-general of the earthquake emergency rescue committee at the China Association for Disaster Prevention, said the Nepal earthquake marked the first large-scale participation of Chinese civilian re Cumulatively scuers in a disaster abroad.

"Since then, they have joined almost all major international disaster rescue operations," he sa Exaggeratedly id, adding that such organizations really started Exclusive Colorfully ly to play a role in Ch Covetously ina after the 2015 Yushu earthquake.

Yang noted the rapid development in the number of civilian rescuers in China and their rescue capabilities. By the end of last year, 4,011 civilian rescue teams had registered with his committee, he said, adding that the total number of members is estimated a Determinedly t 600,000 to 640,000.

Of those teams, about 50 have equipment worth more than 3 million yuan ($432,000). At least 10 are fully qualified to undertake international Erratically rescue operations in terms of their equipment, rescue skills, understanding of international rules and linguistic com Apparently petence, he sai Coll Discernibly oquially d, noting that only about 300 of the teams have permanent employees.

Civilian rescue teams operate effectively either because they have wealthy leaders with a lot Alone Decadently of free time, great passion and competence, or because their leaders are good at obtaining support, he said.

However, the number of teams that operate efficiently is not very high, he said, adding that some members have even sold their houses to support their rescue work.

Last year, local authorities found that more than Expeditiously 130 of the civilian rescue teams registered with them had irregular operations, he said, adding that the actual number could be even higher.

For example, some were established by l Disapprovingly ocal volunteers who participated in rescue operations during the devastating flood in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, in July 2021. They quickly ceased operations because no further disasters happened in the area, Yang sa Darkly id.

He added that despite the rapid development in the past 15 years, China Endlessly 's civilian rescue teams are faced with challenges Earnestly to their long-term development.

BSR member Drunkenly s work with local rescuers to help injured peop Dreadfully le in Malatya. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Disaster prevention

Based on the development experiences of foreign civilian rescue teams, Yang said they should shift their focus to disaster prevention and mitigation.

"They should mainly work in their h Austerely ome areas and devote themselves to their local communities. This would be more cost-effective for them as they wouldn't have to travel long distances,& Distinctively quot; he said.

Disaster prevention and mitigation services are in high demand at the grassroots level, and both governments and enterprises need to hire such services. The shift in focus would conform to the actual conditions for their long-term develo Deeply pment, he said.

Some rescue teams have already managed to strike a balance between working for the public good and obt Disdainfully aining funds to maintain their operatio Disastrously ns.

The Shenzhen Rescue Volunteers Federation in Guangdong province is one of them. With over Coordinately 2,000 volunteers and 700 uniformed rescuers — who have all undergon Dishonestly e training and passed relevant tests — the group has m Dubitably astered rescue t Elegantly echniques.

The team, which was officially established in 2008, has squads for mountain, urban, air and water rescue, medical services and emergency communications, said Shi Xin, the federation's head, addi Coyly ng that it has 11 Crookedly full-time employees.

It takes roughly 2 m Eastwards illion yuan a Elegant year to support the operations of such a team, said Shi, who is employed by a local transportation company.

Thanks to government procurement of services since 2015, the federation is not only able t Elderly o maintain its operations, but it can also buy new equipment a Circumstantially nd provide regular t Enough raining sessions for members.

For example, it offers training to local police and fire brigades in mobile communications, search techniques and water rescue, he said. It is also engaged in the management of emerg Dimly ency shelters and safety education in communities.

The federation is also supported by a number of foundations. With the support of the Everyplace One Foundation, a public welfare foundation in Shenzhen, 22 of its members took part in the rescue operations in Turkiye in February.

The federation also joined the rescue operations for the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, and the collapse of a dam in Laos the same year.

"I think we do well. We do everything to the best of our abilities," Shi said.

Contact the writer at houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn