The
date of 21 August is etched on the young minds of one group
of Egyptian Red Crescent volunteers.
At 6.30am on the Sunday morning in the Nile Delta, 20 kilometres
north of Cairo, two trains collided. One of them derailed and
overturned; 58 people died and a further 140 were injured.
As soon as the news came through about the crash, the Egyptian
Red Crescent’s trained local volunteers made their way
to the scene, offering first aid and psychosocial support to
the victims of the crash.
As the search and rescue operation continued throughout the
day, the youth volunteers also offered support to rescuers overcome
with heat exhaustion. The volunteers also attended a hospital
to reassure the wounded, give blood and offer psychological
support to the survivors once doctors had stabilized their condition.
“As soon as we knew that some of the families were waiting
for their relatives at the morgue in Zinhume, volunteers with
the youth club went there.”
The 25 volunteers offered refreshments to the grieving families
and helped with the bodies.
“When they noticed the deficiency in the manpower in the
morgue, they started to carry and move bodies in the proper
place, and to inform the families of the names of the identified
corpses, and finally to help in their preparation for funerals.”
On the second day, the volunteers continued to visit the wounded
and to support the bereaved families. They listened to those
who wanted to tell their story and or wanted to talk about the
crash.
The prime minister, during his visit to the site, acknowledged
the good work of the Red Crescent and specifically thanked the
volunteers.
“It was difficult to cope with all the suffering, the
anxiety and the pain of the victims, the families,” says
Naglaa, “but the dialogue, the active listening, the availability
of the volunteers to stand close to the affected people was
helpful. Once more, we, the volunteers of the Red Crescent,
have learned a lot.”
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view of the crash site in Qalyoub, north of Cairo. Photo:
REUTERS/Nasser Nuri courtesy of www.alertnet.org
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