MOBILIZATION RESCUE EQUIPMENT, BUSINESS ‎ADMINISTRATION, MANAGEMENT SCIENCE, PAKISTAN, ‎NATURAL HAZARDS, DISASTER MANAGEMENT, ‎€ŽDISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT, DRM, DISASTER ‎PREPAREDNESS, €ŽRESCUE EQUIPMENT, FEDERAL FLOOD ‎COMMISSION, NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT ‎AUTHORITY (NDMA), ROVINCIAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT ‎AUTHORITY (PDMA), DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF CIVIL ‎DEFENCE, BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, MANAGEMENT ‎SCIENCE, EDUCATION AND LEARNING,‎

1. “Disaster Management (5584)-2020
MOBILIZATION RESCUE EQUIPMENT
Cambridge Dictionary Online (2020) defines …
‘Mobalization’:
 “the act of organizing or preparing something, such as a group of people, for
a purpose”
 “the act of preparing to fight, especially in a war”
‘Rescue’:
 “to help someone or something out of a dangerous, harmful, or unpleasant situation”
“When saving a life, he overriding duty of any emergency organization is to mobilize appropriate
rescue equipment to the scene of the emergency in a timely manner. The emergency response time is
the elapsed time between the first call of an emergency and the arrival of the first responder unit at the
scene and it exerts a profound influence on the survivability of the injured people. Several emergency
organizations around the world have regulated the standard emergency response time (SERT) for the
rapid and effective mobilization of rescue equipment, e.g., 8 min for the World Health Organization,
10–15 min for Colorado, 12–15 min for California, and 10 min for Wales.”(Kim, et al…, 2017)
Government Agencies in Pakistan - Emergency Management Organizations:
 National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)
 Federal Flood Commission
 Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA)
 Directorate General of Civil Defence
“NDMA manage complete spectrum of disasters by adopting a disaster risk reduction perspective in
development planning at all levels, and through enhancing institutional capacities for disaster
preparedness, response and recovery. Search and rescue equipment could be available in the stores, in
the safe custody of the emergency operations centre, or with different agencies or organizations
depending upon the size of the equipment and numbers required. For example, cranes may be
available from construction agencies or builders and could be arranged from them at the time of
emergencies or mobilized by the emergency response team/emergency operation centre during the
warning phase. Similarly, depending upon the size of the equipment, it could be available in mobile
vans with trailers that are normally self-sufficient for a certain number of hours.”
Examples of some Rescue Equipments:
 Air compressor or cascade system suitable for refilling self-contained breathing apparatus
(SCBA) or self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) cylinders. Output must be
compliant with Standard on Breathing Air Quality for Fire and Emergency Services Respiratory
Protection.
 Emergency blanket- Disposable blankets
 Equipment Kits for field maintenance of water operations equipment.
 Global Positioning System (GPS) receiving device, including self-contained handhelds, mobile
mounted systems, and accessory devices to enable computers and communications devices.
 Gloves-leather- Outer work gloves for physical hazard protection
 Gloves-water- Protective gloves worn with swift water rescue ensemble
 Location marking devices for marine use, including diver-down flags and Alpha flags. Includes
anchoring mechanism such as magnetic attachment device or grappling hook. Smoke marking
device.

2. “Disaster Management (5584)-2020
 Manually operated hand tools, cutting torches, exothermic torches, accessories and attachments
for cutting, prying, breaking, shoring, stabilizing, moving, applying or removing fasteners
where powered tools are not appropriate or safe to use.
 Rappelling/rescue hardware, including ascenders, descenders, friction devices, hand rope grabs,
carabiners, plates, racks, etc.
 Rope of various diameters, lengths, and ratings used specifically for human rescue, egress,
hoist, or transport
 Stokes type litter (w/float kits)- Devices such as litters, stretchers, stokes baskets, etc. for
moving non-ambulatory victims.
 Systems for mass audio notification, including vehicle-mounted high powered speaker systems,
or battery powered megaphone / public address systems with corded microphone.
 Throw bags- Rescue device consisting of line in a lightweight bag which can be deployed by
securing one end of the line and throwing the entire bag at the target.
 First aid kit, including bulk dressings and bandages, splints, occlusive dressings and associated
supplies for treating trauma patients in a field environment.
The very first step in search and rescue operations is to identify local resources available to assist in
rescuing victims, which include personnel, equipment and tools.
Resource Planning Questions
Personnel
 Who lives and/or works in the area?
 During which hours are those people most likely to be available?
 What skills or hobbies do they have that might be useful in search and
rescue operations?
 What might be the most effective means of mobilizing their efforts?
Equipment
 What equipment is available locally that might be useful for search and
rescue?
 Where is it located?
 How can it be accessed?
 On which structures (or types of structures) might it be most effective?
Tools
 What tools are available that might be useful for lifting, moving, or
cutting disaster debris?
While preparing Community Disaster Risk Management (CNDRM) Plan, multiple aspects are focused,
among which Resource Mobilization is also an important aspect. It includes following points regarding
Resource Mobilization: (NDMA, 2012)
 Discuss how to secure human, physical, and monetary resources
 Identify affordable resources
 Identify unaffordable resources and think about possible ways
of acquiring them (consult with external assistance)

3. “Disaster Management (5584)-2020
Fig. 1- Example of Emergency Management Process
Manageable or Not?
(by the non-scene manager)
Mobilization of Level 2 Emergency Services
[Request additional equipment]
Completion of Rescue
No
Yes
No
Yes
Manageable or Not?
(by the non-scene manager)
Mobilization of Level 1 Emergency Services
[Request additional equipment]
Manageable or Not?
(by the non-scene manager)A
A
Emergency Occurrence
Mobilization of the first responder unit
[Basic team: ambulance, command car,
rescue car, pump car]
Mobilization of Level 0 Emergency Services
[Request with first the responder unit]
Dangerousness
Increased?
Yes
No
Mobilization of Level32 Emergency Services
[Request additional equipment]
Yes
No
0 Response phase (Level 0 Emergency Services)
 Loss of Lives = not defined
 Time required for rescue = not defined
1 Response phase (Level 1 Emergency Services)
 Loss of Lives < 10
 3 < Time required for rescue < 8
2 Response phase (Level 2 Emergency Services)
 10 << Loss of Lives < 20
 8 << Time required for rescue < 24
3 Response phase (Level 3 Emergency Services)
 20 << Loss of Lives
 24 << Time required for rescue
A
A

4. “Disaster Management (5584)-2020
“First, the service area of an emergency response agency (i.e., the regional scope where an ERA can
mobilize its rescue equipment within the SERT) is determined in accordance with the geographic
position of the ERA and the road network condition of the adjacent area. Second, the effect of
emergency response highly depends on the on-scene manager’s sense of situational judgment Fig.1
shows an example of emergency management process. Just after the first call of an emergency, the on-
scene manager mobilizes the first responder unit, considering the contents of the call. However, in
many cases, this might be insufficient to fully cover uncertain conditions of an emergency, which
eventually requires additional on-scene judgments of a new rescue strategy and its required equipment
from an on-scene manager.”
“The Punjab Emergency Service (PES) is the only governmental emergency service in Pakistan
which has proved itself as a successful emergency medical service (EMS) along with its significant
achievements for responding emergencies in other domains as well like fire, collapsed structure search
& rescue, water search & rescue, etc. All the PES emergency vehicles are fully equipped with the
relevant equipment and accessories (TEAs) including a wireless communication system. Its average
emergency response time is of 7 minutes.”
“In Pakistan, emergency services took a long time to start in the form of Punjab Emergency Service
(PES) Rescue 1122 in the year 2004. The PES has put its remarkable efforts to provide quality
emergency services as acknowledged by the community. The operation of EMS lies among the
intersections of healthcare, public health, and public safety.”
“Like the PES toll free emergency helpline 1122, there are many other emergency helplines operating
around the world for example, 911 in United States, 112 in European Union and other European
countries, 000 in Australia, 108 in India, 999 in United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia,
Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates and some other countries. All of these emergency services provide
almost the same services but their service standards and quality differ a lot from one another on the
basis of their infrastructural and technological advancement level as well as the expertise of their staff.”
“Also, only in the city of Karachi more than five (Edhi, Chhipa, Khidmat-e-Khalq, St. Johns and Aman
Foundation) 'private' ambulance services work. Most of these ambulance services provide just
shifting facility to the victims without providing any pre-hospital treatment to them, while Aman
Foundation is considered a good private EMS among these. However, the PES is acknowledged as the
only versatile emergency service in Pakistan with an extensive scope of its services.”(Hamdani, et al,
2019).
REFERENCES
Cambridge Dictionary. (2020). Mobilization. Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/mobilization
Hamdani, F. K., Farid, S., Safdar, Z., Asghar, K., & Hamdani, A. K. (2019). Integrating IoT with Tactical Considerations Towards
Improvements in Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122). Technical Journal, 24(02).
http://www.tj.uettaxila.edu.pk/index.php/technical-journal/article/view/1047
Kim, D., Hong, T., Lee, M., Koo, C., Kim, J., & Jeong, K. (2017). Mapping the Rescue Equipment Mobilization Potential: Decision Support
Tool for Emergency Management. Journal of Management in Engineering, 33(6), 04017037. doi:10.1061/(asce)me.1943-
5479.0000550
NDMA. (2012). National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP), vol. III : Instructor's Guideline on Community Based Disaster Risk
Management (CBDRM). Islamabad: National Disaster Management Authority.