The Iranian Red Crescent Society will train over 3,500 personnel in rapid emergency response systems (RERS) as part of a multilevel plan to beef up its emergency services.
“In the second phase of our plan, 3,774 people will be trained in rapid response,” said Alireza Sayyad, IRCS director of inspections, on Monday.
The trained staff will be stationed at 386 IRCS branches across the country, and the teams will start operating within the next two months, reports Tabnak.ir.
“The plan is being executed following a call by the head of IRCS for the establishment of rapid response teams in the 31 provinces,” Sayyad said.
Today’s emergency response has seen a shift in strategy. Responding to contingency situations is a joint effort between citizens and relief and rescue teams.
RERS are designed to speed the reaction time of first responders.
They provide for continuous planning to minimize the risk of personal injury, death, property loss and collateral damage from critical incidents by coordinating with public bodies and agencies charged with disaster control; take necessary and prudent steps to assure continuity of operations and restoration of normal activities as quickly as possible following an emergency or a disaster.
Countries across the world that have RERS are the US, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, England, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, and Sweden.
Based on the arrangements, 15 people will be stationed at a time in each provincial capital. At other branches of the IRCS, the number will be nine staff on duty at a time.
Sayyad said the IRCS planning and management department has been tasked to come up with a comprehensive educational and training curriculum for the teams. In provincial capitals the teams (in all 456 members) will begin operation within the next two months.
Progress Chart
The Rapid Emergency Response System is a new step up on the IRCS progress chart. The society joined the International Society for Rapid Response Emergency Systems (iSRRS) in early July.
The decision followed a review and confirmation session by representatives from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on the IRCS emergency response operations at this year’s annual meeting of Emergency Response Units (ERU) Review and Coordination at a meeting in the Finnish capital.
Iran is now an official member of the RRES and will be invited to participate in global emergency response operations, as well as international conferences held by the iSRRS.
