Over 50 emergency personnel and helpers as well as nine rescue dogs from Germany and Great Britain have demonstrated their skills as an international search and rescue team near Paris in the past few days. The result: 13 people were rescued from the rubble.
On Wednesday afternoon, the fictitious country of Lutetia was shaken by a severe earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, causing considerable destruction to buildings and infrastructure. Due to the strength of the quake, hundreds of dead and missing persons are reported.
Following the request for assistance from Lutetia on Wednesday evening, @fire immediately mobilised its Light USAR team to conduct its annual search and rescue exercise. The sister organisation “SARAID” from the UK also deployed its USAR team. The @fire task forces from all over Germany and beyond prepared in Trier and arrived at the exercise site in Villejust, southwest of Paris, on Thursday evening.
A total of
- 23 members of the Light USAR Team @fire with one rescue dog
- 7 Light USAR Team S.A.R.A.I.D. with three rescue dogs
- 4 additional dog handlers with rescue dogs
- 20 supporting helpers
took part.
A total of 14 incident sites were identified during the exercise and 13 people were successfully rescued from the rubble.
The teams were - with breaks - in action around the clock, using state-of-the-art technology and demonstrating their skills. During the sometimes complex rescues, rope techniques or core drilling, for example, also had to be used to save the buried victims. The USAR Coordination Center (UCC) coordinated all international USAR teams in the area of operation.
On Saturday afternoon, the “USAR Ex Paris 2023” ended with the successful rescue of three trapped people from a collapsed petrol station. “We would like to thank all the organisations involved - @fire, Saraid, Biba and NebulOus - for their extraordinary efforts and the successful execution of the exercise,” says Florian Zonker, Head of Division USAR. “Such exercises help us to be even better prepared for future real disasters.
