Whistles
ripped through the air calling everyone to assemble their belongings
and get ready to leave the camp, the first indication of a state
of emergency.
Twice before, sudden “shergi” sand storms, followed
by heavy rains, had hit the Moroccan Red Crescent training camp
in Al Haouz. Temperatures rose above 40 degrees Celsius.
Nothing like that was planned in the training scenario which
had been meticulously prepared for participants to this recent
disaster preparedness exercise in Al Haouz province.
But these unplanned events fitted perfectly into the agenda
to test the mettle of participants. This was the first training
camp covering all areas of disaster preparedness and response
organized by the Moroccan Red Crescent (MRC) - with support
from the International Federation’s delegations in Tunis
and Amman, after the Al-Hoceima earthquake which hit the country
in February 2004 and left 640 people dead, 547 injured and damaged
hundreds of houses.
Previous training of MRC staff and volunteers, in particular
the 2003 camp training in Agadir, proved to be so useful during
the disaster that it was decided to train 300 more volunteers
and staff in disaster response and provide further specialised
training to those who went through the response experience in
Al-Hoceima.
The camp was also made possible by the support of the French
Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross,
whose participants took part in all the activities.
Some 80 members of the national Moroccan Red Crescent disaster
intervention team and 294 other volunteers, as well as other
participants from the Red Crescent societies of Tunisia, Libya,
Egypt, Mauritania and Qatar were transported from Marrakech
in a long convoy of trucks, buses and ambulances to the camp
ground - a carefully chosen plot of land near Lalla Takarkoust
dam in Al Haouz province - in the early afternoon.
Although the training sessions were planned to start the next
day, the setting-up of the camp was constantly hampered by the
harsh weather conditions. Finally, the camp was able to get
into full gear. Participants had been divided into groups of
16 to cover a host of topics, such as camp management, health
in emergencies - including psychological support programmes,
water and sanitation, search and rescue, nutrition, emergency
shelter, assessment procedures, warehousing/logistics, relief
distributions, information and media, tracing, conflict preparedness
and first aid.
A group of 34 participants from the Moroccan Ministry of Health,
the Gendarmerie Royale, the Forces Armées Royales and
mine clearance specialists, was integrated in the camp’s
activities and training.
The training camp was a great success, continuing its work in
spite of Mother Nature’s quirks, as must happen on the
job, in real field situations. People were able to turn natural
difficulties into an advantage, by training participants in
difficult situations, thus perfecting their disaster management
skills.
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| Moroccan
Red Crescent volunteers evacuate victims during a disaster
simulation exercise in a village near Al-Houz, 30 kilometers
south of Marrakech (p11875)
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34 participants from the Moroccan Ministry of Health,
the Gendarmerie Royale, the Forces Armées Royales
and mine clearance specialists joined 80 members of the
Moroccan Red Crescent disaster intervention team, 294
other volunteers, as well as participants from the Red
Crescent societies of Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania
and Qatar in the training camp. (p11876)
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