New Zealanders to be in relief team

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32700, 1 September 1971, Page 10

New Zealanders to be in relief team

Although there had been an international disaster-relief team for about 15 years, this year, for the first time, about four New Zealanders would be included in the team, said Mr R. M. Pierpoint in Christchurch yesterday.

Mr Pierpont, the disasterpreparedness officer of the League of Red Cross Societies in Geneva, was in Christchurch for one day to visit the North Canterbury branch of the Red Cross Society and to see its new disaster-relief unit.

“This stand-by team for Red Cross relief in countries hit by disasters should comprise about 50 members, who will be chosen according to their particular qualifications and nearness to any particular emergency, and a leader will also be chosen from a list of about 10 potential leaders,” said Mr Pierpont. Mr Pierpont said that his duties were twofold—to get disaster-prone countries to plan for emergencies and to ascertain Red Cross resources so that they could be mobilised as soon as needed. Those selected to become part of the international relief team did not necessarily have to be members of the Red Cross Society, but they had to have stamina and a background of disaster-relief work or training, and be adaptable and versatile in a disaster situation, he said. “Once they are assigned to a particular disaster area, they are expected to work in support of the local Red Cross in the area, which would be put in charge of the situation,” he said. Several countries known to be prone to disaster, such as

Turkey, Jugoslavia, Japan, and even the United States, had already taken steps to be able to cope with disasters as they occurred, and their effectiveness had already been proven, Mr Pierpont I said. “If the law of averages holds out, three times in 1972 the Red Cross will be called on to send disaster-relief workers into an emergency situation, and when this happens we will be able to cable our team around the world to help," he said. Mr Pierpont said that next year he hoped to hold a training conference in Singapore for potential disaster delegates, where they would be trained in their particular roles in the team. “You can never know your preparedness for a disaster until one occurs, but on a local basis I have seen that Christchurch has taken steps that should definitely be adequate in the form of the disaster-relief units,” said Mr Pierpont.