PEER graduates in Bangladesh at Collapsed Building
 
PEER-Trained Rescuers Save 85 People from Collapsed Building in Bangladesh April 2005
On Monday, April 11 in Bangladesh a nine-storey garment factory just outside of Dhaka collapsed suddenly when aboiler in the basement exploded, trapping up to 200 people beneath tons of rubble. Rescuers from the Bangladesh Fire Service & Civil Defence immediately launched rescue operations, and were joined shortly after by the Army, Police, Scouts, Ministry of Health and other volunteer organizations. In the days that followed, the rescue teams reported they were able to save 85 people from the rubble and remove 61dead.

The Bangladesh Daily Star reported that it was “only by a stroke of luck” that they were able to carry out the rescue operation in the country’s largest building collapse because “The major equipment that the firefighters are using in the ongoing rescue was donated by the US government only” recently. While fortunate, it was not just luck which allowed the Fire Service to effectively make use of search and rescue equipment and recent training to save many of those trapped. The Program for Enhancement of Emergency Response (PEER), an initiative of the USAID Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, provided the rescue equipment in July of 2004 and conducted six training programs for 48 officers from Fire Service & Civil Defense, many of whom will be able to serve as instructors of medical first response and collapsed structure search and rescue to others in the future.

Firefighter Parimol Chandra Kundu concedes the rescue equipment was intended for training and so “not enough for rescue efforts in such a massive collapse,” but was quick to emphasize that “Even this operation would not have been possible had the US government not given us the equipment.” Applying skills learned in their CSSR training, the 48 PEER-trained firefighters used rescue rotary saws, tripping hands, drills, spades, vibrators, reciprocating saw and a crane in addition to basic hand tools. In removing and rescuing survivors, they applied their MFR training.

By April 14, however, the initial “golden hour” – when chances for successful rescue are highest – had long past and hopes of rescuing further survivors were fast evaporating. As one exhausted senior Fire Service official stated, “we are trying ‘heart and soul’ but it is very difficult to get close to them due to the huge debris.” While this tragedy confirms the effectiveness of PEER training in collapsed structure search and rescue and medical first response, it also confirms the urgency for governments to further support, nationalize and sustain such training and to ensure the necessary equipment is made available to those who risk their lives to save others in such disasters.