Advertise On EU-Digest

Annual Advertising Rates

1/19/10

Gavin Hewitt's Europe: Haiti tests European response

BBC

"Haiti tests European response

Gavin Hewitt | 10:35 UK time, Monday, 18 January 2010

French and US rescuers in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 17 Jan 10At every disaster you find emergency teams from Europe. In the Pakistani earthquake I flew in a German helicopter. The Swiss arrived early. I found the same covering the tsunami in Asia. The Italian teams, as always, proved they have some of the best rescue workers in the world.

So again this time in Haiti. There are Welsh firefighters rescuing a two-year old girl. Spanish and French teams have been tearing at the rubble at the Hotel Montana. In a disaster the secret to early success is small mobile teams that arrive quickly and save lives. Initially it is difficult co-ordinating these teams. National search and rescue squads have to deploy at once. They go into neighbourhoods and, like with the Israeli team yesterday, they pull survivors from the rubble where they find them."

No comments: