03-13-2011 Sunday Pacific Standard Time 1800hrs.
Interview of International Disaster K9 SAR Coordinator, and SAR expert, Mr. Harry Oakes.
By Steve Windsor. Private writer / reporter.
Steve; “I’ve interviewed you in the past when you’ve returned from working in disasters over in the Philippines, Honduras, and in Turkey. It’s nice to talk with you again. It’s been a while. How have you been?”
Harry; “Thank you, I’m doing fine”.
Steve; “Are your teams going to respond to the disaster in Japan?”
Harry; “I don’t know as of yet. We’ve offered our 25 years of experience and service to the Japanese government officials. That’s all we can do at this time. I feel they are so overwhelmed it may be a week or two before we even hear back from them.”
Steve; “What do rescuers face in Japan?”
Harry; “Like in any disaster, chaos, some controlled, some not. Most disasters are localized. Unfortunately in Japan this was such a large earthquake followed by a Tsunami. The area victims stricken are also having to deal with Nuclear fall out from the reactor cores that exploded as well as the extreme cold temperatures, no power, no fresh drinking water, and all roads entering the area are destroyed. Then the whole stricken area is surrounded by salt water and destroyed cities. It’s a mess. No fresh water, food supplies, power in the stricken areas.
Steve; “So how do rescuers get to the sites?”
Harry; “They must travel by boat, or vehicle and then walk in or be inserted in by helicopters”.
Steve; “When will you know if you’re going or not?”
Harry; “Like I said, we’ve offered and that’s all we can do at this point”.
Steve: “Can anyone survive for 48 hours after such a disaster or will search teams be looking just for bodies?”
Harry; We’ve recovered live victims trapped in rubble up to two weeks after the initial disaster.
A lot depends on if the victim is trapped and can’t move, or of they are mobile and can escape the rubble. Also if they had disaster supplies stored within reach of where they are trapped may make the difference between rescuers finding the victims alive or dead.
Steve; “In the past you’ve helped in many different types of disasters. According to your web site, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Bombings, Fires, Floods, and of course a lot of earthquakes. What do the Japanese officials need to do to help their people at this time”.
Harry; “They need to bring in experts from around the world such as myself who are trained in survival as well as SAR. Expert Engineers, Environmental specialists, Fire departments, Police departments, Military, International Red Cross, Animal rescue specialists, health and safety experts, Medical experts, Rebuilding experts, City planners, and Recycle experts.”
Steve; “What do you mean recycle experts?”
Harry; “Persons trained in recovering and reusing materials found in the debris piles. Wood, glass, wiring, metal, rubber, etc. That’s not until the end of the recovery aspect but it is important.
My plan that I’ve already submitted to the Japanese officials is as follows.
Have their military and their national defense rescue teams set up staging areas, security perimeters and label the areas by priority of survivors and impact to the nations security, safety and health. Treat this like we would a war zone.
Zones 1 through 100.
Zone# 1 being the highest priority and #100 the last priority. You can also call them districts.
Next, bring in managers, leaders to run staging areas. Each area (zone / region / district) should be self sufficient with water, security, tents, portable toilets, communications, and transportation in and out of the areas. (The military is equipped to bring in these resources).
Medical for humans. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, EMT’s, first responders. Dental specialists for the mouth trauma we often see.
Vets, vet tech’s. Trained animal control specialists. For the pets / animals livestock
Morgue and Medical examiner staff to handle the dead.
A rescuer finds a live person. He / she then calls in a rescue team to rescue the victim. That victim is then extracted, treated for his / her injuries, identified, then sent to a rear staging area for more treatment and transport.
Once the search dogs, rescuers, rescue specialist with FLIR and other tools for locating live victims have gone through the different zones, then the recovery efforts start.
A dead victim is placed inside a bag and returned to the temp morgue. There, they are photographed; finger printed (if at all possible) depending on the decomposition and mechanism of injuries. Cause of death determined if at all possible. Identified and then turned over to burial or cremation staff to dispose of the remains.
This information gets placed in a national registry where family and friends of missing persons can look for their loved ones names.
Security. Looting has been a problem in many countries. Having lived in Japan for 3 years and knowing their sense of honor, I don’t foresee this as an issue. I would have the military set up a rough perimeter to keep everyone out, allowing only the rescue and recovery staff in. This also helps the stricken victims to be identified and be removed out of the area, and it keeps the spectators and victim’s families out of the area. Keep the areas contained.
My first priority is that I would have several helicopters and larger aircraft fly over the various districts / zones daily and air drop food, water, shelter, tents, sleeping bags, to the victims below. This will hugely increase the victim’s chances of survival. This should be done immediately.
If a pet or livestock is found alive, a trained animal specialist will rescue the pet / animal and bring it back to a staging area to be examined by a vet. Once treated, it can be brought to a staging area for transport and safe keeping out of the stricken areas.
Communications.
The Military and National Defense Staff, (we call our people civil defense workers), would set up portable power sites and cell sites and or radio HAM operator communications. This way supplies, people, equipment, can be brought in and taken out of the areas.
With the communications there needs to be a section that addresses information to the military, police, fire dept, SAR folks, Medical folks as well as a section that addresses the general public, media, TV, Radio, Newspaper, internet, etc.
Hazmat. Hazardous materials specialist must be the first team to respond once the districts or zones are set up. They must evaluate the safety of the areas to be searched. Gasoline, oil, fertilizers, work chemicals, nuclear specialist would of course is my first priority for determining Hazmat priorities.
Emotional Support.
With as many victims dead in the area, grief counselors, priests, ministers, and grief specialist attached to the support portion of the morgue and or medical examiner’s offices should be assigned to help debrief the victims, their families, and the rescuers.
Financial Support.
This disaster like any major disaster will cost the government of Japan Billions of dollars in Rescue / Recovery / Regrouping / Rebuilding. This may take up to a year just to go through the sites and clear the human and animal bodies, level the structures, clear the debris, and rebuild.
Long-term impact statements, observations, and planning need to be done by the experts in rebuilding.
Japan needs to develop a short-term and long-term rescue and recovery program. I know they have a short-term program in place. But like I said this may take up to a year to complete the searches and recoveries.
Foreign aid support.
Japan has teams coming from all over the world to help. Each team will need to be supported through donations of money, food, water, shelter, transportation, logistics, etc. A staff needs to be assigned from the Japanese government to request specialized aid and determine where it needs to be sent and how to get it there. And, how to get the teams out when they are done with their missions.
Steve; “How can the general public help?”
Harry; “Each person wanting to help should contact their department of Justice for their state. Find out which charitable organizations and or businesses are responding to this disaster and whom they can provide financial support to. Please make sure they are legit so they don’t get scammed. Also find out which groups are responding and send medical supplies, food, sleeping bags, tents, etc. with them. Groups like the International Red Crescent AKA Red Cross, etc.
Steve; “Is there anything else you want to ad to this interview?”
Harry; “No not at this time. Thanks for contacting me. I hope this information helps the Japanese officials and public understand what needs to be done”.
Steve; “Thank you”.
Harry; “You’re welcome”.
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