TY - JOUR
T1 - Standards in collaborative international disaster drills
T2 - A case study of two international search and rescue drills
AU - Rokach, Ariel
AU - Pinkert, Moshe
AU - Nemet, Dani
AU - Goldberg, Avishay
AU - Bar-Dayan, Yaron
PY - 2008/1/1
Y1 - 2008/1/1
N2 - Introduction: During the last few decades, various global disasters have ren-dered nations helpless (such as Thailand's tsunami and earthquakes in Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, and India). A lack of knowledge and resources make it difficult to address such disasters. Preparedness for a national disaster is expensive, and in most cases, unachievable even for modern countries. International collabo-ration might be useful for coping with large-scale disasters. Preparedness for international collaboration includes drills. Two such drills held by the Israeli Home Front Command and other military and civilian bodies with the nations of Greece and Turkey are described in this article. Methods: The data were gathered from formal debriefings of the Israeli teams collaborating in two separate drills with Greek and Turkish teams. Results: Preparations began four months before the drills were conducted and included three meetings between Israeli and foreign officials. The Israeli and foreign officials agreed upon the drill layout, logistics, communications, resi-dence, real-time medicine, hardware, and equipment. The drills took place in Greece and Turkey and lasted four days. The first day included meetings between the teams and logistics preparations. The second and third days were devoted to exercises. The drills included evacuating casualties from a demolition zone and treating typical injuries such as crush syndrome. Every day ended with a formal debriefing by the teams' commanders. The fourth day included a ceremony and transportation back home. Members in both teams felt the drills improved their skills and had an important impact on creating common language that would enhance cooperation during a real disaster. Conclusions: A key factor in the management of large-scale disasters is coor-dination between countries. International drills are important to create com-mon language within similar regulations.
AB - Introduction: During the last few decades, various global disasters have ren-dered nations helpless (such as Thailand's tsunami and earthquakes in Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, and India). A lack of knowledge and resources make it difficult to address such disasters. Preparedness for a national disaster is expensive, and in most cases, unachievable even for modern countries. International collabo-ration might be useful for coping with large-scale disasters. Preparedness for international collaboration includes drills. Two such drills held by the Israeli Home Front Command and other military and civilian bodies with the nations of Greece and Turkey are described in this article. Methods: The data were gathered from formal debriefings of the Israeli teams collaborating in two separate drills with Greek and Turkish teams. Results: Preparations began four months before the drills were conducted and included three meetings between Israeli and foreign officials. The Israeli and foreign officials agreed upon the drill layout, logistics, communications, resi-dence, real-time medicine, hardware, and equipment. The drills took place in Greece and Turkey and lasted four days. The first day included meetings between the teams and logistics preparations. The second and third days were devoted to exercises. The drills included evacuating casualties from a demolition zone and treating typical injuries such as crush syndrome. Every day ended with a formal debriefing by the teams' commanders. The fourth day included a ceremony and transportation back home. Members in both teams felt the drills improved their skills and had an important impact on creating common language that would enhance cooperation during a real disaster. Conclusions: A key factor in the management of large-scale disasters is coor-dination between countries. International drills are important to create com-mon language within similar regulations.
KW - collaboration
KW - disaster drills
KW - international collaboration
KW - search-and-rescue
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=46349101984&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1049023X00005586
DO - 10.1017/S1049023X00005586
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:46349101984
SN - 1049-023X
VL - 23
SP - 60
EP - 62
JO - Prehospital and Disaster Medicine
JF - Prehospital and Disaster Medicine
IS - 1
ER -