UN experts will assess Hong Kong’s disaster rescue team next year as part of its bid to attain international accreditation to recognise its abilities, with the squad commander saying he is confident about the group’s chances of passing the evaluation.
Cheu Yu-kok, commander of the team that was deployed to earthquake-stricken Myanmar last month, said on Tuesday that the group had already completed up to four drills and gathered advice from mainland Chinese counterparts to prepare for the assessment.
“Our progress has been good so far, we are also confident that we can pass the evaluation to become an accredited international search and rescue team next year,” Cheu said.
The group applied for an accreditation as a medium-sized rescue team with the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group in November 2023, after the department led a 49-strong team to conduct a nine-day rescue operation in Turkey’s earthquake.
The advisory group is a United Nations-endorsed body that coordinates global rescue missions and develops search and rescue standards. Its accreditations are split into “light”, “medium” and “heavy” teams, with varying manpower and capability requirements.
A medium team is able to sustain 24-hour operations at a site for up to seven days and can perform searches with dogs, rigging and lifting. The team is also able to cut structural steel.
