Photo By Staff Sgt. Cory Grogan | A member of the Nepalese Army Ranger battalion's disaster rescue program demonstrates...... read more read more
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By Sgt. Cory Grogan, 115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
PANCHKHAL, Nepal - For Capt. Ayush Rana, saving lives is what makes him the proudest. Rana is a Nepalese army ranger and leader of the disaster and assessment response program for the Nepalese army.
Rana says he is happy to tell the story about two teams of 15 soldiers that make up an innovative disaster rescue program, prepared to save lives when called upon.
Rana is teaching lifesaving techniques at a multinational exercise involving platoons from 11 nations during Exercise Shanti Prayas-2 at the Birendra Peace Operations Training Center. Participants at the field training exercise are learning tactical procedures for reacting to real-world peacekeeping scenarios.
Nepal is one of the leaders in U.N. peacekeeping missions, and Rana said that one of those missions is the reason the Nepalese disaster rescue program was started.
Nepalese peacekeepers were — and still are — deployed in Haiti, and when the earthquake in 2010 wreaked havoc, the force commander thought that peacekeepers — especially Nepalese peacekeepers — could be used for rescue and other assistance, Rana said.
“When we were deployed, they did not have adequate knowledge of disaster assessment or risk management and had to go in blind, so many rescuers who went in were injured,” he said. “After the earthquake, it was realized that this kind of training is important for the potential disaster situations.”
The unit is trained to skillfully perform rescues that primarily involve two methods.
One is where the rescuer is lowered from a zip-line mounted in safe zones on opposite sides of the rescue area. With pulleys, the rescuer is lowered to the victim where they can aid the casualty before putting the victim on a medical litter. The rescuer and the litter are then raised and pulled away from the danger area.
The second rescue involves rappelling. The rangers are trained to rappel up and down steep terrain using a variety of methods.
Rana also mentioned these are particularly effective methods in Nepal because of the rugged terrain and elevation changes. He said living in Nepal is another reason he is passionate about the program.
Many seismic experts believe Kathmandu, Nepal, is the most vulnerable place in the world for casualties during an earthquake. It is estimated that because of Kathmandu’s geography, physical structures, and population density, that a 6.0 or greater earthquake could cause approximately one-million causalities, Rana explained.
“In Haiti, we thought we were ready to face any situation but we were not prepared to rescue victims in a disaster situation,” Rana said. “This is an excellent platform for us to send our message to the international community — this is a humble effort started by our battalion and it has now already become a national element.”
Rana said delivering the message at Shanti Prayas-2 will allow more people to realize that threats from natural disasters are eminent and that it is necessary to be prepared if a natural disaster occurs.
“The priority always is to save lives of the people,” Rana said.
| Date Taken: | 03.30.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 04.04.2013 06:59 |
| Story ID: | 104594 |
| Location: | PANCHKHAL, NP |
| Web Views: | 482 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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