September 2009
The Team
|
John Holland Team Leader |
John Miller |
Clare Gollop |
Simon Thomasson |
|
Gin Wilson-North |
Stuart Hillier |
Michelle Thornley |
Arif jaffer |
|
Anthony Thomas |
Gillian Dacey |
Stuart Heard |
Andy Read |
|
Garry Wonnacott |
Mat Batten |
Pete Old |
Mark Wilson-North |
|
|
The Mission
Indonesia Deployment 1st – 6th October 2009
A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck at 17:16 (Local time) off the coast of Sumatra 45 kilometres away from the city of Padang.
Due to the size of the earthquake, the proximity to a large city and the extensive media coverage reporting widespread devastation, RAPID UK put in an offer of help to the Indonesian Authorities which was accepted and a team of sixteen members was deployed with approximately 1 tonne of equipment.
British Airways donated return flights to Singapore, with RAPID UK picking up the costs of return flights from Singapore to Jakarta where military flights were taken to Padang. On arrival at Padang airport, transport was found to take the team and equipment to the BoO (Base of Operations) that had been established for the international responding teams in the city.
RAPID UK was tasked with searching a couple of isolated collapsed buildings as well as establishing the search and rescue requirement for one district within Padang. It quickly became apparent that the devastation being reported was greater than the actual state on the ground, although there were pockets of devastation; luckily most of the city had been spared.
RAPID UK worked closely with the UNDAC (United Nations Disaster Assessment and Co-ordination) Team to let the international community know that there were sufficient search and rescue teams already deployed but there was a need for aid for the displaced population.