Foreign rescue teams check NAIA efficiency

Search and rescue teams from foreign countries yesterday conducted a drill at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to assess the speed by which personnel of the country’s premier airport can process their documents in case they need to fly to the Philippines in case of an emergency.

On hand were foreign search and rescue teams from the US, Australia, Brunei, China, Japan, India, Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Singapore, which make up the skeletal Urban Search and Rescue (USAR). The drill was conducted from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. at NAIA Terminal 1.

The USAR conducted an ocular inspection of NAIA last Wednesday night.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said that the drill tried to see if processing of documents belonging to members of foreign search and rescue teams could be expedited in order to speed up their travel to disaster areas.

Yesterday, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), through the Office of Civil Defense (CD) joined the teams in conducting an Earthquake Simulation Exercise at NAIA. The exercises will continue until Jan. 23.

Among those who witnessed the drill were personnel from the MIAA Public Affairs Office (PAO) and the MIAA Operations Division.

MIAA said the exercises aim to achieve the following objectives:

• to exercise the reception of international USAR teams through Philippine border agency protocol, including immigration, Customs and quarantine;

• to exercise the integration of international USAR resources with Philippine USAR teams and Local Emergency Management Authority (LEMA) organizations;

• to provide international and national USAR management and planning personnel with further experience in cooperation and coordination in an international response operation as defined in the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) Guidelines and United National office for the Coordination of the Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) emergency response system;

• to promote professional collaboration between the NDCC and some key INSARAG participants who might respond in case of an actual event in the country; and

• to formulate the Protocols of International Search and Rescue Assistance into the Philippines which shall lay down the procedures into and from the country. — Sandy Araneta