Search and Rescue Assistance in Disasters (SARAID)

Synopsis

SARAID is a British charity dedicated to trying to save the lives of innocent victims of disaster, as well as relieving human suffering around the world regardless of colour, creed, religion and political persuasion.

Staffed entirely by volunteers and funded solely by public donations, SARAID is on call 365 days a year, always ready to provide trained Search and Rescue personnel, free of charge to any country in need of assistance. Its membership includes serving fire-fighters, paramedics, doctors and engineers, as well as office workers and builders.

Unfortunately disasters such as earthquakes, floods and landslides kill and injure thousands of people each year and leave many more homeless and destitute.

When disaster strikes, time is of the essence. It is therefore essential that the team is well trained, well equipped and able to deploy quickly to the site of any disaster around the world. Over the years, SARAID members have provided Search and Rescue assistance during many overseas disasters including Turkey, India, Mexico, Palestine, Pakistan, Algeria and recently the Haiti Earthquake.

Gary Francis, the speaker at this evening meeting, will give a brief introduction to SARAID before talking about some case studies from previous deployments and the challenges faced. He will describe what it’s like in the immediate aftermath of a destructive earthquake and how SARAID can help. The team recently deployed to support the Nepalese earthquake response and this presentation will include how SARAID contributed to the international rescue effort.

About the speaker

Gary Francis has been involved in humanitarian disaster response since the early 1990's. He is currently the National Director and a Team Leader of SARAID, a UK Charity and NGO Disaster Response Team specialising in Urban Search and Rescue (USAR). Gary has been the driving force behind SARAID, making the organisation one of the most internationally respected voluntary NGO urban search and rescue & disaster response teams and full members of the United Nations International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG). He has been deployed operationally to earthquakes in Turkey, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Haiti, major flooding in Mozambique and Sri Lanka following the Indian Ocean tsunami as well as assisting in flood response in the UK.

Gary has qualifications in Emergency Planning, Disaster & Risk Management as well as Forensic Human Identification and is a UN OSOCC Operations Course facilitator. He is also a consultant with MSB Swedish Civil Defence in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Contingency Planning and Training.

Further information

This evening meeting is organised by SECED and chaired by Mark Scorer (Atkins). Non-members of the society are welcome to attend. Attendance at this meeting is free. Seats are allocated on a first come, first served basis. Tea and biscuits will be served from 5.30pm - 6pm. For further information, please contact Greg James (tel. 020 7665 2229).

If you would like to learn more about how you can get involved or help by donating or supporting the team, details can be found on www.saraid.org.uk.