Prepare to Respond

PREPARE TO RESPOND! International Centre for Emergency Techniques

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PREPARE TO RESPOND! 24 THE ROAD MAP TO A SAFER SRI LANKA

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BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY

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A GENEROUS SMILE 80 AN OVERVIEW OF ICET PROJECTS

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t was in January 2003 that The Netherlands Support Office in Gujarat, India, first introduced me to The Netherlands based International Centre for Emergency Techniques (ICET). Lifeline Foundation, which I had co-founded, had just started to initiate Emergency Medical Services (EMS) on Indian highways. Prior to that India had no initiative, government or otherwise, on its treacherous and accident prone 60,000 kilometres of highways, to help road traffic accident victims. Jan Vincent Meertens, founder of ICET, was sure that he could support our fledgling effort. Not many people had done so and therein we struck a chord.

ICET’s work in Gujarat, following the great earthquake that left more than 10.000 dead in the western state of India, impressed me. How best they could join the efforts to improve resilience of the stricken communities was on their minds. Therein lay the commonality of our work in India and ICET’s work worldwide. ICET did not advocate knee­jerk relief and rehabilitation. Theirs was a mission to create permanency in local emergency preparedness. Once again, as they crossed cultural and geographical boundaries into what was for them an alien land, I watched in admiration.

The ICET team had always been more than willing to share with me its stories. And stories it has in abundance, stories of personal courage in South America, stories of ICET’s involvement in disaster risk reduction round the globe. But after the Tsunami ICET wanted me to become part of the story. ‘Go see for yourself and tell me the rights and wrongs of ICET’s work in Sri Lanka’. I jumped at the chance. Sri Lanka has been a land of folklore for me, as it is for the millions of Indians. The Ramayan, India’s epic, mystifies it. Here was my chance to see ICET’s work first hand once again and at the same time demystify the Ceylon of yesteryear. I have completed the technical report for which I was sent to Sri Lanka and I know my views and recommendations are in good hands. Therefore, I am pleased to offer in this book a broader introduction to ICET. This book is a not only about Sri Lanka; it could be any other country in the developing world. However, since my tryst with documentation of disaster response started with the island nation, it left an indelible mark on me. A significant portion of the book talks about the Asian country,__

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Small boy in Tsunami stricken Pulicat on the Eastern Coast of India

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taking it as a case study. As I crisscrossed the globe, physically and in the virtual world, documenting ICET’s path breaking work in countries that often had not yet properly planned emergency response and preparedness, it dawned on me that this book is nothing short of the description of a best practice. About not waiting for a next thing to happen, but how we should help the vulnerable to brace themselves for disasters.

This book is just not about disaster mitigation work in the island nation and beyond. It is about what resolute doggedness, tenacity and self-belief can bring to a community, irrespective of where you are; all you require is a catalytic help from the outside. And of that there is no dearth in this world. ICET personifies that in abundance!

ICET has multiple sources of inspiration, not least the lives of the various team members who are sourced from across the world. For them as they travel many miles to convince the world about emergency preparedness it is ‘the last mile that will make the difference’, in which they try to create sound community resilience by ‘marrying modern technology with traditional instruments’.

‘Perseverance is a great element of success.

If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.’

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Jan Vincent Meertens thanking Sri Lankan and Dutch stakeholders for their continuous support

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There are two unnamed girls who adorn the desk of Jan Vincent Meertens; their faces inspire the ICET team to travel that extra mile.

One is a little girl who survived the Tsunami. Her generous smile lit up Jan’s camera frame when he was training a community emergency response team in Pulicat. It was the greatest gift for him. She became symbolic of ICET’s work; boys and girls like her would be part of more resilient communities and develop into empowered citizens. They are at the end of the last mile.

The other is a photograph of a little girl, with big eyes and dirty nose that he took at the Lake of Tota, Boyacá. Years later in Colombia, after Jan had been kidnapped by guerrillas and languished for more than 240 days in solitary confinement, she crossed his path again. She had been used in an encouragement advertisement in Colombian newspapers released by the Meertens’ family during his abduction. He picked up the advertisement and put the photograph on the wall of his cell. She became his symbol for freedom which he never doubted would return. And when released from captivity, he did not allow his fears to turn to nightmares; he leveraged his lasting impressions of failures of safety and security systems into his strengths. His book: ‘The Girl from Tota’ tells it all.

Coupled with an intense yearning to make a difference Jan and his team set about making his contribution to the way the world prepares for disaster. ICET was born out of their personal experiences and a desire to create mechanisms and approaches to fight disasters.

It is a tough call to promote community resilience strategies. Sri Lanka epitomizes the challenges and problems that the ICET team has succeeded in surmounting. For me, the barometer of success was the smiles, each succeeding one broader and more confident than the earlier on the faces of Sri Lankans as I travelled from one city to another.

Whenever I said I am associated with ICET, ‘the guys who are strengthening our emergency response services’, I found myself welcomed among the residents of eighteen cities and towns in this island nation, who had come to recognize the project team as their guides, those who empower them to protect their homes and families.

The girl at the lake of Tota, Boyacá, Colombia

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The Ramayan, one of India’s two epics, of parallel importance to Homer’s Ilyad and Odyssey of the Hellenic world is usually the first initiation for an Indian about Sri Lanka.

Long before a child learns about the nation’s neighbors, Sri Lanka being the southern one, he hears in absolute amazement, sitting in open verandahs, sun burnt courtyards, at the foot of the grandmother’s chair or taking a walk holding the fingers of the grandfather about how the ten headed demon king ruled over an island country called Lanka. How, treacherously, he kidnapped the unsuspecting wife of India’s fabled hero, Ram and how Ram, aided by his brother and an army of monkeys led ably by the monkey God, Hanuman rescued his beloved. I was no different, lapping up the entire Ramayan, recited verbally to me by both my grandmothers and my mother, in awe of Hanuman as he burnt the Lanka king’s palaces using his tail as a wick.

Years later, the tales, even as they stayed fresh, sounded so distant in terms of reality. Ceylon, as it was called in my childhood, was now a subject of geography and history, of the great Indian King, Ashok’s experiments to spread Buddhism across the known world. Ceylon still stayed hazy till I first came across Lankans in flesh and blood in 1974. And true to everything Indian, it was through cricket, the English game, now holding popularity akin to a religion in India. My first cricket match was__ Sunset in Sri Lanka

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‘The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.’

John Powell

seeing Anura Tennykoon lead his side to play against an Indian team in Mumbai. That they got beaten comprehensively is a story that had such a sweet revenge for the Lankans years later when they beat India in a World Cup semi final encounter. I started to look at them in awe. How could an island, the size not more than Gujarat, one of the 28 states of the Indian federation, hold me in fascination, my friends wondered then. I had no answer to it, till I met the greatest of Sri Lankan icons, at his home during my trip to Sri Lanka assessing the ICET projects.

Muttiah Murlitharan captured my imagination as no Lankan ever had.

Fascination soon turned to disbelief as the island got embroiled into ethnic conflict. I, like so many of my fellow countrymen, heard in disbelief. Political essayists can spend lifetimes debating the issue but the fact is that thousands of lives were lost. The emerald island was now a battleground. I could just sit and sigh! Worse followed, as heads of states of both India and Sri Lanka, were sacrificed in this madness. I saw no hope! The fabled land of Ravana was on the brink of destruction. And lo and behold! Lanka got back its friends. What the war did, the Tsunami undid! International support that had gone missing was back.

New ones came in too. So did ICET.

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As I heard ICET talk about the new Lanka, as they saw it unfold, my lure for the country came back instantly. I realized I had never lost it, just as you never lose your first love. I pined to see the land and its people. My first sight of the Lankan land mass was soul stirring. Arising out of the deep blue sea that surrounded it, it seemed joined by the unseen umbilical cord to the Indian mainland. Controversies abound about that, some mythological, some geophysical. How green can green be is the question that I asked myself from within the comforts of the airplane as it readied for touchdown.

Travelling across Sri Lanka I documented ICET’s work with ever increasing fascination. I ventured out to Kandy in the hills, eager to learn more about the impact of ICET’s work on emergency preparedness amongst communities with a big heart in a geographically small country. Driving back from Kandy we were still in awe of Bible Rock when our driver, Pussalla asked me whether I had seen elephants in the jungle. Our travels have taken me around the globe and I have been fortunate to see both the Asian and the African ones.

But I had not seen the Sri Lankan ones, he emphasized, much to my chagrin. 90 kilometers before Colombo near the Rambuttana crossing he turned right to show us the pride of Lanka – the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage. Stung by his impulsive decision to take us off our route back to Colombo, we were yet to recover when Pussalla said that the Elephant symbolizes the Lankan spirit like nothing else does. Robust, kind, displaying family bonding and yet ready to defend the wider social group. Just as the elephants’ spirits have not been crushed despite centuries of human dominance, the Lankan spirit is firm and riding high despite the war in the country and the Tsunami.

While proud to be part of history in the making of emergency preparedness in Sri Lanka, some Lankan Government officials are still looking at the spoilers which could dampen or slow down the entire process once ICET has left the shores of their country and local ownership may not be able to take it forward. I understood these sentiments and where the worry stems from. Disaster Risk Reduction is still not embedded in the culture of the local authorities, is their main concern. Shortage of firemen and a cap on recruitment at local self government level could paralyze the entire system.

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A community emergency response team in Tamil Nadu, India

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As a student in medical school in 1983 I came across an impressive document from the World Health Organisation, promising ‘Health for All’ by 2000. As year after year went by in the 90s, that document seemed more and more like a piece of wishful thinking. For me and for many others who had by that time graduated, disillusionment had already sunk in with regard to the dream of Health for All. Vaccinations could not prevent deaths anymore. The world was getting more and more unsafe. But what we had not realised is that the risk to the health of communities was far more wide-ranging than just disease.

Working with teams of volunteers during the Gujarat earthquake made me realise that, more than ever before, communities face newer risks. In addition to the risks posed by newer diseases (e.g. SARS, HIV and new strains of avian flu) there is an increasing danger from natural and manmade disasters such as Chernobyl and Bhopal. Worse was to follow shaking my confidence in our chances of survival; my near fatal accident, which made it dawn on me that transportation (road, rail and air) accidents are perhaps the most immediate threat to our daily survival. Thanks to the ICET team I learned more and more about the world of disaster risk reduction. First in Gujarat and__ Subroto and Sushmita Das

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then during those breathtaking yet mythbreaking trips to Sri Lanka, I became aware of how unrealistic we had been at medical school when we thought that all risks might be completely eliminated and that actions by government authorities are, of course, controlled by budgetary constraints.

On occasions I was concerned about ICET overstretching itself. About ICET being too ambitious and developing unrealistic expectations.

To strengthen the capacity of the early warning, communication and emergency response systems, to increase public awareness of the value of early warning and emergency response services, to develop multidisciplinary and inter-agency cooperation between the emergency rescue services, to implement an investment, finance and procurement program and to develop community level awareness, preparedness and rapid response mechanisms all at the same time is no mean feat and it can be, risky at times. But even so I saw over and over again, in Gujarat and in Sri Lanka, that ICET was capable of creating a dynamic and multidisciplinary team with dedicated individuals. Ten, twenty persons all having the same goals, the same dream. And always, at the end, meeting their targets. Was it just a matter of good business sense?

work with persistence and patience to achieve sustainability and ensure that knowledge is disseminated and there to stay.

The ICET story, I found, was one of successful companionship, of oneness with the Lankans and the other people whom ICET has served.

The line between the benefactor and beneficiary did not exist.

I am happy and proud to contribute to this book which describes the path ICET chose to walk!

March 2010, Dr Subroto Das Lifeline Foundation

All in all, the final conclusion I can draw is that the projects I have been able to document have had a significant impact on how emergency response is handled. Though there are lacunae that can be pointed out, it has to be remembered that emergency response systems take time to mature. One has to see them, not as technological changes but as social changes; technology is but just a small part of it. What has impressed me most of ICET’s projects is the fact that lessons learned from each project, irrespective of the continent it was implemented in, have been incorporated in the next project; it has been the progress from one project to another. It would have been helpful to translate these benefits into data on the reduction of mortality and morbidity, but unlike Europe or the United States, data in Gujarat and Sri Lanka are not yet sufficiently reliable. The statistics coming out of the AKS 110 project however, were one of the factors that prompted the Indians and Sri Lankans to accept ICET’s investment plans. Those in the developed countries need to understand that in the other part of the world, evidence based practices are a rarity. ICET demonstrates that rare effort, even when hard data are impossible to come by. The project teams__

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he concept of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) was alien to most developing countries and cultures. This stems from the attitude of not being ‘safety conscious’. Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, despite being struck by natural and manmade disasters innumerable times, have been very fatalistic about ‘disaster risk reduction’.

After Chernobyl the international community started to understand that there is much to be gained from DRR strategies. The United Nations declared the nineties as the Decade of International Natural Disaster Risk Reduction putting disaster management firmly on most national agendas.

Earlier warnings went unheeded; in 1985 when the Chernobyl disaster happened the world was forced to realize that disasters could also be manmade and that their effects could cross borders and cultures. We are referring to cultures not only in the anthropological sense, but also in the institutional. The range of uniforms to be seen during disaster relief is mind boggling. Each uniform represents a mind frame with its own perspective and ideas for resolving the crisis. The often high degree of autonomy of different political and regional institutions is a formidable barrier to effective emergency response. Cooperation across public, non-governmental, private, municipal and district lines was habitually extremely limited. Rescue services generally operated as highly independent and separate agencies, making integration and cooperation difficult to achieve.

It took disasters in Armenia, El Salvador, Turkey and the Indian Ocean, amongst numerous others, to convince global leaders not only to build disaster management capacity from existing resources but actually invest in new resources. The World Bank stated that each dollar invested in disaster risk reduction would save seven dollars when disaster strikes, supporting the belief that investments in prevention and preparedness pay off. Today, thanks to further initiatives such as ISDR1 and GFDRR2, DRR has become a strategic goal of country development strategies in many disaster-prone countries.

In the wake of these developments, ICET took its first steps to develop its focus and expertise on ‘disaster preparedness’ and ‘early warning’ captured in two of the priority areas of the Hyogo Framework for Action: identifying, assessing and monitoring disaster risks and enhancing early warning; and: building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters. Founded in 1993, ICET’s first big assignment in which it gained practical experience happened a decade after Chernobyl.

In 1995 ICET started work in the Donbas Coal Mines of the Ukraine.

For the team it was their definitive chance to prove that their concept of disaster preparedness could radically change the way accidents and disasters are perceived, mitigated and managed. The next assignment also related to coal was in the coal mines of Russia, a big step forward as ICET also provided technical assistance through training in Europe.

Searching for a sound model the initial training programs took shape into what now is the well recognised and documented SAVER methodology, ICET’s unique contribution to multidisciplinary emergency response preparedness. SAVER is the acronym for a Systematic Approach to Vital Emergency Response. A key concept for ICET is the existence of typical or generic processes requiring a common approach, at operational, tactical or strategic levels and indifferent to the type of__

Chairing a joint Chinese, Vietnamese and Dutch workshop in Beijing

1. International Strategy for Disaster Reduction 2. Global facility for Disaster Risk Reduction

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accident or disaster. This concept is the foundation for the SAVER methodology, which has now been used in more than 40 countries.

It is easy to understand the reservations that governments of developing countries have towards investing scarce resources in disaster preparedness, and working within those limitations is difficult. ICET provided expertise in investment planning and international finance to obtain funds from donors and financial institutions. This blend of financial, business and technical services has benefited, amongst others, Turkey, Ghana, Russia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, China, Argentina, Korea, Qatar, Dubai, India, Guatemala and the Ukraine. It is not Africa, Asia and Latin America alone that ICET has provided expertise to. It has also worked in the United States and most of the EU countries. Civil Protection, ambulance services, pre hospital trauma teams, hospitals, fire and rescue brigades and private industries are all within the scope of beneficiaries of ICET’s work.

Besides disasters and mass casualty incidents, ICET has contributed a lot to Road Traffic Accident management concepts, thanks to a wealth of experience and research from its diverse and international instructor community. The World Health Organization claims road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death worldwide among young people aged ten to twenty-four. Globally, most deaths are caused in transport related accidents.

The Escola Nacional de Bombeiros in Portugal holds a SAVER license and is certified

by ICET for RTA training.

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From its very inception, ICET has trained emergency response services to rescue injured persons from car and other wrecks. From there on, ICET moved on to the development of other accident related rescue training. Sourcing aircraft wrecks, ICET has organised a number of training programs for rescue after survivable air crashes. Tunnels, railways, collapsed buildings, swift water and industrial structures are amongst the scenarios that ICET has developed its training modules around. The key to the success of the modules lies in the understanding of the processes that come along with these incidents; with a systematic, realistically trained, approach it is possible to make a considerable reduction in mortality and morbidity rates. Word got around and Indian Railways retained ICET in 1996 to introduce its views on railway safety and railway accident response in particular. It was a huge task, given the enormous rail network in India, with over 10 million passengers using it on a daily basis. Today, Indian Railways is still implementing a number of ICET’s recommendations.

But for all at ICET, setting-up an Integrated Emergency Response System (AKS-110) for the city of Izmir in Turkey will always remain the watershed moment. Pivotal to emergency response are rescue forces such as ambulance and fire services. Back in 1998, if you were the unfortunate victim of a car accident or collapsed building anywhere in Turkey, you would likely be dragged from the entrapment by onlookers, hauled into a taxi, and driven to a hospital... except in the Turkish city of Izmir. There your experience could be completely different. The elite AKS-110 emergency response team would be called to your aid, appearing at the scene with tools that would enable the personnel to carefully remove you from the wreckage. They would be closely followed by paramedics who would stabilize your condition and attend to your injuries as you rode to hospital in a fully-equipped ambulance with a trained driver at the wheel. Izmir symbolizes the Turkish government’s will to improve its rescue and pre-hospital care services.

In 1998, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality moved to implement ICET’s recommendations, with a comprehensive SAVER training program and a wide range of rescue hardware. Over the following eighteen months, ICET trained four hundred carefully selected Turkish rescue staff including firemen, doctors, nurses and policemen. The training modules were designed for response to a broad range of accidents and__

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ICET instructor and trainee preparing for an exercise

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disasters relevant to Turkey, with particular attention to hazardous materials, road traffic accidents, urban search and rescue and interdisciplinary management. Sixty-five vehicles including ambulances, ambulance-rescue vehicles, container trucks, commander cars and related equipment, protective clothing, hydraulic rescue systems and gas detection equipment were purchased from prominent manufacturers.

The newly implemented service was prepared to cope with daily incidents and could also quickly deploy for large scale disasters. When the August 1999 earthquakes struck Turkey, Izmir’s rescue network was the only domestic response team properly equipped to deal with a serious fire at a refinery in the hard-hit city of Izmit, 400 kilometers away. The fire brigade members who responded were trained and used equipment provided under the ICET program, including a pumping system that was the key to stopping the blaze and equipment used to retrieving entrapped victims from under the rubble.

‘The world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming it.’

Helen Keller

High-caliber teams from the fire brigade have been integrated with both public and private medical services to create AKS-110; an integrated elite unit that responds to accidents, domestic fires, and even__ industrial accidents such as chemical fires. The service commenced operations in January, 2000 and operates from bases located at different fire stations within the Metropolitan Municipality boundaries of Izmir.

The service has been well-publicized, and the people of Izmir know the benefits of dialing ‘110’ for one of the service’s ambulances. Furthermore, the new service does not discriminate on the basis of wealth; all members of the public now have access to top quality pre-hospital care, regardless of their income. A training centre was designed by ICET and constructed and in 2007, the Dutch Urban Search and Rescue team went to Izmir for earthquake response training.

A paramedic of AKS 110 in Izmir in front of his EMT Rescue Vehicle

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Rightly or wrongly, it takes substantial influence to induce most governments to invest more in safeguarding their citizens because rescue services are costly in terms of manpower, equipment and operating costs. Even when the political will is present, the path to better rescue services may not be simple or straightforward. In many countries where bureaucracy looms large, the private sector is often still much more likely to provide fast and competent care compared to the public sector. Yet, AKS-110 has served as an example to many local__

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governments on how to develop an efficient and integrated emergency response system, a system that combines the efforts of medical and safety disciplines in a way that best serves those in immediate need. ICET made sure that lessons learnt from projects such as AKS-110 would strengthen future programs so other countries could benefit from international best practices.

In recent years, the role of the fire service has expanded beyond fire suppression. Safety has become the business of a modern fire department. As a result, fire prevention and public education have begun to receive an increased emphasis as proactive elements of an integrated fire and rescue service. Citizens are dependent on the fire and rescue service to ensure protection against the dangers of various emergencies that may occur in the community. These demands must be responded to with a growing range of new services, such as hazardous material response, technical rescue and emergency medical services. The fire department must address changing community needs in a dynamic environment.

Competition for budgetary allocation from other local departments that rely on taxpayers for funding is compelling the fire and rescue service to move out of its comfort zone and modify its services to match its community’s changing needs. The service of the future will provide a broad menu of safety services, in many cases including an expanding__

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emergency medical role. It will soon focus on prevention as the most effective way to accomplish the mission of protecting life and property, while also maintaining safe and effective emergency response capability.

Emergency response is not the only business of a modern fire and rescue service. Fire prevention along with fire code enforcement are two major areas of responsibility. Fire suppression personnel will be increasingly involved in inspections and code enforcement in future.

Fire service personnel have recognised that fire safety education and prevention are a major part of the fire fighters’ responsibilities. The local neighbourhood fire station can be the delivery vehicle for fire and emergency prevention efforts throughout the community. But in some countries the communities may be too isolated for such service. ICET has worked with local fire and rescue services to create community emergency response teams in villages that are too remote to expect speedy assistance from their district capital or nearest municipality.

One such project was implemented in Tamil Nadu, India. With guidance from ICET experts the Tamil Nadu Fire Service developed models to train community teams to become first responders. The enthusiasm was still palpable two years after the ICET program and it had grown to a level where the team members wanted to become trainers so they could train others. Their levels of awareness of disaster risk had increased to such an extent that they could comprehend significant and growing risks associated with fire, drowning and other hazards.

Fire and rescue services can also move on to deal with the complexities of industrial societies and the hazards these produce. However, the fire and rescue service often finds itself short of trained personnel and funds to support a full Hazmat Emergency Response. This should not be the case. The fire and rescue service should have direct involvement as either a lead or participating agency in hazardous materials incidents.

Gujarat is arguably the first state in India to resolve this issue. It is one of the most highly industrialized Indian States – the chemical belt of the Indian subcontinent. The Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation were assisted by ICET after Gujarat was hit in 2001 by one of the worst earthquakes in recorded history. ICET secured donor funding through Cordaid and__

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developed an integrated rehabilitation project – offering a comprehensive multi-disciplinary training program for 50 rescue professionals along with local refresher courses, exercise drills and disaster management training for municipal disaster managers. ICET coordinated supply of rescue equipment after conducting an exhaustive ‘needs assessment’. Impressed with the ICET expertise, the state government appointed it to undertake a detailed World Bank funded conceptual and feasibility study for establishing Emergency Response Centres (ERC) in the state. Seven ERCs, with Hazmat response capacity, are currently being put in place, transforming Gujarat into one of the best prepared Indian States to respond to disasters, chemical or otherwise.

Vital to an emergency response system is a good communication system that covers early warning, easy public access and multi-agency communication. Although AKS-110 had its own control room, most early ICET projects had been built around existing communication solutions, some of them extremely basic, leaving the response system subject to a weak link in the response chain. Bystanders or family rushing a victim to a hospital in a rickshaw whilst two blocks away professional help could have been readily available is often the harsh__

High capacity pump unit used for massive fire and flooding emergencies now available in Colombo

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reality in many cases. In Sri Lanka ICET gratefully accepted the opportunity to embark on its most comprehensive project to date, covering the emergency response chain from early warning to evacuation and from distress call to pre-hospital trauma care. This project began in 2003. The Government of Sri Lanka took note of ICET’s work and that in Gujarat in particular. ICET prepared a feasibility study for the improvement of emergency preparedness and response.

Together with the stakeholders in disaster management, the workgroup had picked a massive bombing of a major central office building as the benchmark disaster. The benchmark disaster being the event the Government of Sri Lanka and ICET felt it should be fully prepared for, both in terms of material and human resources. As ICET, on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, began to engineer the project financially, the country was hit by the Tsunami. Although the Tsunami was well beyond the imagination of the workgroup and due to its enormity hardly suitable as a benchmark disaster scenario, it did dramatically highlight the need for change. Not the ideal circumstances for ICET to make an impact, but nevertheless an opportunity to make a difference in a geographical area that needed assistance and was willing to complement the external expertise with internal resolve.

These projects take a lot of perseverance to override political, financial and personal barriers. ICET has successfully identified leaders within governments and the local community to spearhead its activities.

People who have understood that DRR is intrinsically linked to development and to poverty reduction. They have risen above day­to­day politics to give shape to ICET’s concepts of DRR. The ICET team feels extremely privileged to have worked with many such men and women.

Building a broad based support system involving government and non-profit organizations has been a cornerstone of the ICET story.

ICET understands the importance of community involvement and local ownership. Nowhere has it been better exemplified than in Izmir, Gujarat and Sri Lanka. ICET’s dream in Sri Lanka, which it wants to replicate across the developing world, is to help communities become more resilient to disaster risk. Many who believe that ‘we live in times of scarce resources’, have come to appreciate ICET’s mix of humanitarian urgency and good business practice.

A SAVER Urban Search and Rescue training under way

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isaster recovery reinvented itself after the Tsunami in 2004.

Sri Lanka, crippled with the effects of the disaster, had an enormous resolve to fight for survival which translated into a document called a Road Map to a Safer Sri Lanka, a document that with the turn of every page displayed a tenacity to live, a firmness to stand up to the anger of nature, a steadfastness to rise above the crushing punishment that destiny has in store for all of us.

I have no doubt that the Road Map ‘Towards a Safer Sri Lanka’ if implemented will contribute significantly towards achieving sustainable development in the country and towards peace building.

Mahinda Samarasinghe Honorable Minister of Disaster Management & Human Rights Unlike a lot of other documents that decorate book shelves of government officials or lie in archives collecting dust, this one met with a very different fate. With the help of UNDP, the Government of Sri Lanka went ahead at a brisk pace to meet the targets penned in the document.

It was an example of a practical plan to bridge the gap between__

Rescuers from Sri Lanka being trained to search and rescue victims from collapsed buildings

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humanitarian assistance in the after math of the disaster and longer term reconstruction. The concepts laid down in the Hyogo Framework and Millennium Development Goals were well represented in the Road Map. DRR promotes better health and education by protecting important infrastructure such as schools and hospitals; it promotes poverty reduction by protecting economic activities and assets; and it promotes gender equality by empowering women through disaster reduction and recovery initiatives. Sri Lanka took significant steps towards strengthening legislative and institutional arrangements for disaster management. In May 2005, the Sri Lanka Disaster Management Act No.13 was enacted, which provided the legal basis for instituting a Disaster Management system in the country. In January 2006, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights was created as a separate Ministry with the National Committee for Disaster Management and the Disaster Management Centre under its purview.

The document goes on to ensure that each stakeholder can be kept within well defined parameters to deliver the best results. And the authors of the document have made conscious efforts to ensure that there are no conflicts and stepping on toes between different functional teams. On the contrary, overlapping is intentional to keep continuity rather than create confusion and the resultant faltering. And mechanisms within the various processes ensure that at no point would a particular goal be left unachieved.

Having learnt from best international practices, ICET was a guide, sparring partner, trainer and mirror to those responsible for implementing the emergency response strategies outlined in the Roadmap. Back in early 2005 Cordaid commissioned ICET to help rehabilitate the devastated emergency response services in Galle, in a post-Tsunami relief program. When the project was just kicking off, there were many other national and international actors providing their assistance to the Government and it was hard to understand the strengths of the various organizations involved. Eventually, the Ministry of Disaster Management managed to assign the right portfolios to the right NGOs operating in the country. ICET’s role too was identified. It would focus on technical assistance for early warning, emergency communication and integrated emergency response. Covering themes such as development of pre-disaster recovery planning, development of tools and__

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Female community member are actively involved in disaster risk reduction

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training packages for capacity building, establish guidelines and standards, partnership building and establishment of linkages between local and regional programmes and institutions.

But ICET did not want just to provide consultancy. It wanted to go that last mile and it found its opportunity in one of the key priorities of the Ministry - the establishment of an integrated early warning and emergency response system, reaching deep into communities at risk.

It fitted the Road Map so well. It was a route which was so natural for ICET to travel on.

Well-prepared communities are the first line of defense against disasters and a key to reducing vulnerability and increasing disaster resilience. Having a well-resourced and sustainable program to advance Community Based Disaster Risk Management is therefore a key strategy to achieve a safer Sri Lanka.

A public awareness campaign to show the community how the fire and rescue service has improved their skills

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To ICET this was sweet music. The ideas expressed were so dear to its heart. ICET joined with other stakeholders in creating experimental modules to capacitate the local authorities and sensitize the village communities, connecting both. The team put its heart into the task.

Its mission became one of creating modules, sourcing trainers, translating literature into the local language, motivating target groups to get themselves trained and most importantly, letting government functionaries relate to the benefits of a sensitized community in furthering the cause of DRR. History had brought ICET and Sri Lanka to a point where change was inevitable!

ICET’s work had started in Galle. Driving on the road to Galle was a very soul searching experience. The more one drove, the more devastation one saw. Crumbled buildings, uprooted houses and places of worship were so common. But what was the most poignant reminder that nature can be very harsh was the sight of overturned coaches of a train, which was tossed around by the waves killing hundreds traveling in it as the Tsunami struck.

The multipurpose EMT rescue vehicle used in IDP camps in Vavunyia, post-war Sri Lankan

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In the wake of the disaster emergency response stakeholders converted ICET concepts into reality in Galle reaching out to the community, to schools and to law enforcement authorities, sensitizing them about risk reduction and also showing off their new equipments. A change in confidence that ICET, Cordaid and the Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils, have brought about in rebuilding the emergency response capacity of the city of Galle, covering the awareness drills, appointing a new fire chief, budgeting for upgradation of the fire brigade and maintenance of the equipment that ICET had provided, planning for a broad based EMS, more co-ordination amongst police and fire.

And having seen the progress in Galle is when Sri Lanka made its choice underlining the developmental part of a national emergency response project, in line with the Road Map; this gave ICET a stronger footing to talk to its own countrymen back in Netherlands; being a major donor to DRR they believed in city emergency management and communitybased disaster preparedness. The Dutch Government extended support through a grant for the fire and rescue component of the emergency response project and ICET secured a long term loan for the Sri Lankan Government to cover the remaining project components. This complex financial package was signed in 2006, providing a financial basis for the first step on a path that has yet to end.

The overall objective of the fire and rescue component (the other component is the early warning and emergency communications) was to reinforce the existing emergency response network through upgrading and expanding the fire services and converting these into fire and rescue services, increasing the scope to cover medical and rescue services, fire prevention, public safety and education. It also included creating a Special Response Unit (SRU), integrating emergency response planning, involving the community and putting up an Emergency Response Training Centre (ERTC). The figures speak for themselves.

More than one hundred fire and rescue vehicles, fifty ambulances, five trailers and five containers with rescue, training and medical equipment.

ICET integrated the equipment and human resources into one emergency response system. A massive operation run by a mixed team of local people and people from other countries, including two Dutch expats.

This team set up the logistics of delivering the various equipment__

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‘People only see what they are prepared to see.’

Ralph Waldo Emerson

across the Oceans and into the island, criss-crossing it whenever needed.

Providing all these vehicles and the large cache of equipment is a horrendous logistical exercise. While taking the right equipment to the right place was important, even more important was its proper use and maintenance, so important to the sustainability of the project.

The team is a staunch guardian of the project’s aims and objectives and above all, sustainability. They are uncompromising when others, for the sake of practicality are ready to sacrifice one of the project’s objectives.

They will go out to find the right partners, governmental, non- governmental or private, in Sri Lanka or in foreign lands to strengthen the project and improve it further.

The Golden Lining of the mission was to set up the Special Response Unit (SRU) in Colombo. As he talks about the SRU, the Chief Fire Officer cannot but feel a sense of satisfaction at the difference the SRU is going to make. ‘We were doing traditional fire fighting, we needed to go beyond and delve into issues related to aspects as broad as hazardous materials and geographic information systems, first responders and inland__

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Emergency Response Network implemented in Sri Lanka by ICET: 20 Cities with modern Fire & Rescue and Ambulance capabilities 145 Vehicles Special Response unit (SRU) Emergency Response Training School 100 Early Warning Towers Emergency Communication Network Emergency Response Planning National 24/7 Emergency Operations and Call Centre Protocols, Algorythms for call taking and dispatching Control Rooms District Disaster Management Centres Long term training programme to local authorities and communities Public awareness campaign

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flooding.’ With a Deputy Fire Officer in command assisted by two station officers, three sub officers and 3 leading firemen, the SRU work force of 70 firemen have equipment they could not possibly have even dreamt of using.

Several trainers worked with the SRU from the very beginning. Trainers who so adroitly handle the manikins and yet so dexterously use their skills to train a young group of laymen in the art of resuscitation. These are people who are able to blend their unique background in multidisciplinary rescue into the targets laid down in ICET’s projects. Take Wim and Charles. Wim has been with ICET for nearly 15 years. He has a passion for technical rescue and has this wonderful dog that will join him in search and rescue missions. Wim is a real Dutchman. Straightforward, stern and sometimes unbending to reach the objectives.

Charles, South African, has a more Southern approach and together they form a unique team that has been able to reach the minds of their pupils but also to touch their hearts. These, and many other trainers have worked with ICET in numerous countries. They have this talent to create local rescue teams that will go the extra mile to get the best out of each other. The trainers have been the spinal cord of the capacity building programme for the project.

The SRU team is the torch bearer and its members feel so enormously proud of that fact.

With it, however comes the burden of being the last resource. But then, with their training and equipment, the SRU will find its own way.

Chief Fire Officer Kannangara and the commissioner of Colombo saluting the SRU team

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uch havoc can be avoided if only those vulnerable could be warned in time. Early warnings are basic to survival and should be heeded. Surprisingly, although the concept is so simple and time tested, in the modern age developing countries prone to natural disasters have failed to realize the importance of early warning. They are not a European or an American innovation, these early warning systems. They have been in existence even before recorded history. Forget humans: even animals, both land and seafaring ones and the avian world have their warning systems to inform their flock of impending danger. Right through recorded history, drums and long trumpets have been used to communicate enemy attacks; drums in Sri Lanka have a history as old as 2500 years. Yet, the Indian Ocean Nations did not have a sound Tsunami early warning system for that could have averted the loss of so many lives, the lives of those who went to see the strange phenomenon of the waters of the oceans receding.

The early warning towers that ICET’s industrial partners conceptualized and installed have pre-recorded evacuation messages that can be activated remotely from the Sri Lanka National Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) via conventional radio systems. The operator at the EOC has the option of selecting the towers and the message that is to be played to warn the public in that area. The EOC is backed by its robust communication systems and will receive early warnings from national and international agencies too. Alternative systems such as a GSM__

based disaster early warning system and even the old indigenous methods are also kept in place.

However much technology there is available, it will all be rendered worthless without proper and coordinated usage. The complexity of the co-ordination required of the EOC in Colombo, and any other worldwide, is always a challenge. Multi-agency capacity building therefore was another priority for the execution of EOC responsibilities. Aided by the SAVER method, EOC and District Disaster management Unit (DDMCU) personnel together with their stakeholders resolved a number of challenging disaster scenarios. SAVER helped them understand disaster response processes and how to allocate these to relevant stakeholders, creating a truly integrated emergency early warning, communication and response system. The chain should be strong at each and every link. Solid building codes, early warning, public awareness, well trained and equipped responders that know when en where to go.

Today, it is widely agreed that combining prevention and resilience become the most cost-effective way to address natural hazards. A unique model of ex- ante and ex-post interventions targeting the most hazard prone communities in the world3. However, at the same time, individual investment decisions require an estimation of costs and benefits. Disaster risk reduction projects have a socioeconomic impact with quantitative and qualitative dimensions. Quantitative in the sense of costs (and possibly revenues); qualitative in terms of benefits such as improved sense of safety, lives saved, enhanced rehabilitation of the injured and environmental conservation.

As said before, investing in DRR will save in relief and rehabilitation funds. In so-called hot zone countries this should be reason enough to local authorities and the international community to provide the funding. In other countries, the equation may not be as clear and more justification is required. Cost-benefit Analysis (CBA) is a very popular project-evaluation tool which attempts to assign a monetary value to the various costs and benefits. However, financial cost­benefit analyses often do not capture many of the considerations relevant to decision making for disaster risk reduction projects. It is usually quite easy to__ 3. GFDRR, Annual Report 2009

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Honorable Minister Samarasinghe, accompanied by the Dutch Ambassador and the Mayor, receiving the keys of the first EMT rescue vehicle for Galle Municipality

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determine costs. But how is one to put into the formula benefits linked to protecting a human life? Placing monetary values on attributes of human well-being and human life for which no market prices exist is often complicated and controversial. We can know for sure that a litre of milk bought today in a certain country costs a few cents, but we can never know for sure that the value of one’s life to society is thousands of dollars. Yet, the investment sum needs to be justified somehow. The qualitative analysis is an alternative to a financial cost benefit analysis.

In this, comparison of positive and negative consequences to arrive at policies for DRR becomes a commonsense form of cost-benefit analysis in which experts agree weightings for the different elements, though these are not always expressed in financial terms.

Some countries have provided legislative criteria to justify DRR investments. These are often performance indicators such as maximum arrival time at the scene of an accident. If a country has decided that its emergency response teams should be on the scene within fifteen minutes of the initial distress call, authorities can determine the investment level against these indicators, hence avoiding the value of life parameter.

‘Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.’

Lao Tzu

The monetary benefit of any measure to reduce the consequences of disaster impact depends heavily on the probability that a disaster will occur. Most approaches for estimating the costs and benefits of DRR are, as a result, probabilistic. They evaluate the historical frequency and magnitude of events and the lives lost, damage to property and other losses these events in history caused and project these into the future.

Changes in such losses due to disaster relief interventions along with the costs of such interventions are then compared to baseline (no-intervention) loss projections to estimate the costs and benefits.

In a country like Sri Lanka there is a history of disasters and therefore sufficient data available for such an analysis. Other countries are lucky enough to have had few calamities. In Estonia for example, where ICET has worked on railway emergency response, statistical data shows the absence of any major railway disaster. From this, one might conclude that there will not be a significant railway disaster in the future, but this is not a valid argument for policy making when dangerous goods routinely move along the railway in populated areas. Commonsense tells us that a risk does exist. As the fire and rescue services in Holland__ The new fire and rescue station in Anuradhpura

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have concluded, predictions of an event happening ‘once in five years’ or ‘once in a hundred years’ is of little relevance to fire and rescue commanders, because the once­in­100­years event may actually happen tomorrow. While events such as Tsunamis are of such magnitude that any amount of resources invested in response will be overwhelmed by the size of the disaster, many risks, even ones that are not flagged up by historical data, can still be planned for and budgeted.

In Sri Lanka, ICET used a benchmark scenario that local policy makers believed would be an event for which they must be prepared, at any reasonable cost. The benchmark scenario helped determine the required emergency response resources to deal with its consequences in an acceptable manner.

Let’s look at some of the ICET projects and see how we can describe its direct benefits. After the massive January 2001 Gujarat earthquake, The Netherlands offered capacity building support to local authorities of the City of Ahmedabad, India. The results of this project were a first not only for Gujarat State but for the entire country. The Gujarat State Disaster Management Act was an unintended but welcome offshoot__

Dealing with chemicals is now safely done by the SRU

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of the Gujarat project. Many across the world are stunned at the Gujarat State Disaster Management Act, which was so well drafted that it became the foundation for India’s National Disaster Management Act. As with the Act, the training too was an eye opener for most. Though reluctant at first, the government saw the advantages and realised there was no going back. The officers trained in Europe came back with their skills enhanced and their confidence at an all time high. Floods, building collapses, industrial fires, children in bore wells are problems to which the Ahmedabad Fire Service can respond with confidence.

The training and equipment that ICET provided has made it one of the best fire services in the country. This was recognised by the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority when it enlarged the response area of the Ahmedabad Fire Brigade, asking them to cover incidents 250 kms out of Ahmedabad. From amongst the fire officers trained in Europe, 12 were crafted by ICET into good instructors who succeeded in carrying out the intended knowledge and skills transfer. Two of those trained in India have also become international trainers. The benefits of the resulting multiplier effect are still being reaped years after the__

The SAVER reference cards providing guidance to disaster response trainees of DMC

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project has ended. The Ahmedabad Fire Brigade has trained over three thousand individuals including firemen of different municipalities, the State Reserve Police, National Cadet Corps and National Fire Service College an impressive achievement. The multiplier effect is often transnational. Take a capacity building programme that ICET conducted for the Chinese International Search and Rescue (CISAR) organization.

The project was completed in different stages and resulted in the availability of international CISAR trainers. These same trainers were used by ICET in a similar programme for the Vietnamese National Search and Rescue Organization, conducted in Beijing and fostering important bilateral emergency response co-operation.

ICET’s projects in India have created a huge awareness within the system to the extent that they are considered a benchmark for emergency response preparedness related issues. Often for the first time, these projects exposed authorities in general to modern methods of preparedness leading the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority to frame a number of its policies such as the Emergency Response Centres designed by ICET and currently under construction.

Dr Buddhi Weerasinghe explaining schoolchildren what to do when the early warning towers are activated

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In Sri Lanka, the projects were landmarks for the country’s emergency response services. Initial project gains such as the highly trained firemen of Galle Municipality served to elevate the standards of fire and rescue services. This has set benchmarks for the country and catalyzed a change in the attitude of other emergency response services.

One strategy ICET uses is to generate as much as possible local ownership. It is not a Dutch trick performed in a foreign land. The support of local organizations, such as UNNATI and Lifeline Foundation in Gujarat, Medical Teams International in Sri Lanka and Loyola College in Tamil Nadu together with many other stakeholders made the ICET projects more dynamic and provided them with new dimensions. It gave the projects solid local ownership and an energy which reached beyond the project framework itself. In Gujarat for example, Lifeline started activities whose results were not foreseen within the project plan, yet these activities resulted in positive outcomes which were in keeping with the project desires.

More and more interactions with non-profit organisations concerned with community empowerment for disaster mitigation have made__

Community members preparing for an evacuation

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ICET understand that, though direct transfer of knowledge and skills at the community level is welcomed as an innovative idea, there are big challenges involved which cannot easily be overcome: long term motivation and creating a feeling of responsibility within the communities. It is necessary to create a host organization with a mandate from the community.

Never does ICET impose a foreign modality on any of the project stakeholders. The SAVER method was innovative and provided a good tool for developing, memorizing and repeating operating procedures. SAVER offers a framework within which the local idiosyncrasy has a level playing field. In Gujarat, the SAVER operating procedures were not followed to the letter this was not done to undermine the procedure, but to include local experience and innovation. In Sri Lanka, development went a step further. Local stakeholders stood up to adapt SAVER, convert it for local use and increase the level of ownership of the manuals.

Another ICET strategy is to act as a catalyst between authorities and the community. In Tamil Nadu there were two knowledge and skills transfer channels that ICET directly served. While one was through the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Service, the other was a__ Fishermen getting instructions on self help procedures

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direct community­directed approach which had NGO support.

Although both seemed promising, shepherding the process for them to become fully functional and realise the intended objective of replicating the training for other stakeholders remained an insurmountable challenge. Then a catalyst is needed, which must work hard with one or both of them to enable the efficient and effective provision of services.

NGOs such as Medical teams International (MTI) in Sri Lanka and Lifeline Foundation in Gujarat independently gathered trainees for medical rescue. Through their efforts ICET succeeded in reaching the community level. After ICET trained six staff of the Lifeline Foundation, these newly trained staff and the Foundation itself as an institution transferred the knowledge and skills about pre­hospital care to 810 primary health care doctors and 929 paramedics working in 16 districts, and 1,940 villagers hailing from 388 communities.

‘I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand’ Confucius

Later, ICET projects have been more effective at grass root level, working shoulder to shoulder with local authorities, in training the community to create awareness so that the community passes on the message to others. With a supportive and proactive fire and rescue service, awareness can be used to carry out training in communities.

Especially, in communities that have been very receptive, because the trauma resulting from an earthquake or tsunami has remained fresh in their minds.

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A GENEROUS SMILE

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oxing Day 2004: At 8 a.m., South Asian time, local meteorological institutes register a heavy earthquake north of Sumatra, which inflicts a devastating Tsunami. Being an early riser and avid news consumer this surreal news reaches ICET in The Netherlands at around 7.00 a.m., ICET head quarters’ time.

Hours earlier, while in Banda Aceh in Indonesia, the Tsunami is ending the lives of tens of thousands, in Unawatuna, Sri Lanka, local inhabitants and tourists are enjoying the sunrise. Elderly are taking a sea bath to rid themselves of the effect of the humid night, the little ones are playing in the surf under their mothers’ watchful eyes, while they prepare breakfast. The early visitors to the beautiful beaches of Sri Lanka that the Lonely Planet describes as ‘one of the prettiest in the world’ are seeking out a spot to camp for the day as the sun gets stronger.

Thousands of kilometers to the west, in Kulub, Somali fishermen and their families are still asleep. Later that morning, as they wake up, a few of them will hear something on the radio about a huge wave that has__

New fire brigade control room ready to provide service to the public

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One of the the early warning towers in Gampaha District

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supposedly washed over Indonesia and Sri Lanka. People in Kulub will either sympathise with those killed in the east or dismiss it as another of the multiple disasters now hitting the earth and proceed to work as normal.

For them the city of Geroowe, two hundred kilometers away, is already a world apart, let alone countries like Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

There is no way they can suspect that a series of waves is rolling towards Kulub from the Indian Ocean. In the meantime and oblivious of what is about to happen in Kulub, everyone in Europe is horrified by the first television images showing the effects of the Tsunami.

What was supposed to start as a wonderful Christmas day, soon turns out to be one of the darkest days in history of mankind.

In Pulicat, in Unawatuna, in Kulub, hundreds, probably thousands of lives could have been saved, if only people had been warned and if only emergency response services in the countries would have been better capacitated.

This lack of information would lead to another tragedy subsequently – un-coordinated relief.

Even before the salty water had retreated, the victims were flooded with uncoordinated aid.

In a compassionate knee-jerk reaction, many__ Chief Fire Officer Kannangara and the commissioner of Colombo saluting the SRU team

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nations promised money; more promised and sent relief material and goods. Lots and lots of goods. Medicine, clothing, boats, and other stuff, often past their ‘best period to use’ date, too warm or not seaworthy. All loaded with good intentions, but not always making practical sense, at times even bordering on ‘disuse’ for those, who needed it most.

It demonstrated again and again to a sympathetic world that rushed reactions more often than not results in resources being wasted.

Thankfully lessons are being learnt and relief aid, nowadays a serious industry, has recognised that spending all this money in just relief is not justifiable and is desperately looking for a new strategy. The World Bank has already expressed it in figures: for every euro we invest in precautionary measures, including preparedness, we would save seven in reconstruction. Investing in these precautionary measures is the right approach. It is possible to prevent the ‘multiplier effect’ of a disaster by investing in response capacity, in early warning, in communication, in self-sufficiency and in regional rescue systems.

Traditional methods of warning will always be needed to support more modern technology

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‘Call on God, but row away from the rocks.’

Hunter Thomas

Rescuers featuring their newly acquired high angle rescue skills and equipment

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But then what about the mother on the beach keeping an eye on her children in Unawatuna? What about the fishermen preparing their nets to go fishing? ‘What about the Last Mile?’ It certainly sounded impressive when Bill Clinton said this back in 2005 at an Early Warning meeting in Bonn. ‘Yes! What about the last mile?’, those listening responded. Modern technology offers incredible speed. Sea buoys can emit signals that are sent by satellite to regional centers.

Again by satellite, but through Internet or phone, these regional centres can warn national governments of countries, where a disaster may occur.

This book has described how ICET has been able to contribute to a range of disaster response systems being set up in Sri Lanka and other countries. How, as soon as the local authorities receive an alarm from Japan or Hawaii via the local meteorological institute, the national crisis centre can warn the imperiled population via the media, text ­messages and via early warning towers, which are currently being installed along the Sri Lankan coast line by ICET. In the future, once the mother has gathered her children timely from the beach and the fisherman from Kulub stays on shore, we will have bridged the Last Mile. The international community needs to invest in response capacity, in early warning, in communication, in self-sufficiency and in regional rescue systems to bridge that Last Mile on time.

The generous smile the little girl in Pulicat, a survivor of the tsunami gave the ICET trainers when she witnessed the drills they did with the villagers was their biggest reward. She became symbolic of the Last Mile. Fortunately, governments, NGO’s and private institutions have now put their heads together to find solutions for Disaster Risk Reduction, the new aid buzzword. Investing in these precautionary measures is the right approach. It is possible to prevent the effects of a disaster getting unnecessarily out of hand. History has brought us to a point where change is essential.

The Lifeline Foundation of Dr Subroto Das has become a leader in Highway Rescue in India and ICET has been able to tap into their experience and of so many others associated with ICET; persons that have connected to ICET and feel its spirit and mission in everything that they do and we do, people from all continents, from many__

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different cultures and backgrounds, people with a special ability to bridge cultural gaps, facilitate flow of knowledge and with the special commitment of preparing to respond, whenever asked to. At ICET we know that life must be taken as it comes, but we also believe it is better to try to make it come as one wants to take it. Joining hands with people that know that ‘the only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing,’ as was wisely said by John Powell.

It is important to become better after each lesson that has to be learnt, of sharing these lessons and of creating an universal approach to emergency preparedness. Besides, it is never an easy path to travel. Safety is a theme that humans tend to subdue. It is often dealt with in a reactive way and too late. Many initiatives have become possible only after disaster has struck. Fortunately, we can see a paradigm shift. Donors, banks and NGO’s have moved towards financing emergency preparedness programs in risk prone countries. They understand disaster loss has severe consequences for the survival, dignity and livelihood of individuals, in particular of the poor and hard-won development gains.

For these organizations, disaster risk is increasingly of concern and they acknowledge that efforts to reduce disaster risks must be systematically integrated into policies, plans and programs, in order to achieve sustainable development and poverty reduction, in line with development goals, including those contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration.

ICET looks forward to continue our work with the many wonderful people associated with us and for those communities that need it.

The last mile is within reach.

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n Overview of ICET projects ICET specializes in the development and training of integrated emergency response systems. ICET provides baseline studies, designs, technical assistance, training, financial engineering, procurement and implementation services for fire and rescue and ambulance services, for Civil Protection, for local authorities, for NGO’s, for multilateral organizations and for private organizations.

Donbas Coal Mine Rescue Project, Ukraine: training and equipment supplies Russian Federation Coal Mine Rescue Project: training and equipment supplies European Union funded interregional Rescue Capacity Building Project (Antwerp) Belgium and Brabant) The Netherlands: design of training institute; cross border training European Union funded earthquake rehabilitation project for Northern Turkey: capacity building; institutional strengthening The Netherlands: multiagency large scale exercises on mass casualty incidents; European Union funded assessment of Estonian Railway safety and rescue system; Indian Railways investment planning for the improvement of railway rescue units and training institute; World Bank funded Gujarat Earthquake Emergency Rehabilitation project: design and investment plan for Emergency Response Centers and Gujarat Institute for Disaster Management; Post Earthquake rehabilitation project for Ahmadabad fire and rescue service funded by Cordaid Designing, developing and implementing the AKS 110 rescue service for the City of Izmir, Turkey and the Aegean Region; Feasibility studies into the improvement of emergency response networks in Argentina, Cuba, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Western Africa.

Feasibility studies into the improvement of the ambulance network in Hanoi, Vietnam; Training of the China International Search and Rescue Organization; Joint training of the Vietnamese and Chinese search and rescue organizations; Post Tsunami Rehabilitation of emergency services in Tamil Nadu, India and Galle, Sri Lanka Designing, developing and implementing the fire and rescue service for

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20 cities throughout Sri Lanka Setting up and early warning and emergency communications systems in Sri Lanka, including installation of technology and community awareness training.

Setting up and training of community emergency response teams in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.

UNDP funded Procurement and supplies of Urban Search and Rescue Equipment for Tajikistan; World Bank funded development of guidelines, protocols and algorithms for the ambulance rescue system in Croatia.

SAVER multiagency rescue training for rescue services throughout the World including most European countries, the United States, Southern Africa, the Middle East, Australia, South Asia, Korea, China, Taiwan and the Philippines.

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Š ICET, 2010, first edition Editors: Dr Subroto Das Jan Vincent Meertens Jeroen Visser Kevin Ehevar Marleen Vellekoop Elsa van Heijst Design: Graph[s]ic Design Printing: Lecturis BV, Eindhoven, the Netherlands Paper: Ysselprint HV-Offset ECF certified

Photographs: Paul Tolenaar, ICET Cover photo: Elsa van Heijst