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Leicestershire’s ISAR Deployments
Earthquake: Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia 2009
Leicestershire’s component of the UK International Search and Rescue Team (UK-ISAR) had only been back on for six hours when the call to mobilise came. The previous evening Wednesday 30th September, a severe earthquake, 7.6 in magnitude struck Indonesia. It occurred off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra near to the large city of Padang. There were also many aftershocks causing additional damage and suffering to those affected, including one at 6.6 magnitude. It was at this point that the Indonesian government sent an international request for ‘heavy urban search and rescue teams’ to assist in the rescue.
As the UK team had just (June 2009) reclassified with the United Nations International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) as one of the five teams in the world capable of doing the job, we were at the forefront for the Department for International Development’s (DFID) options to assist.
Sanction at Prime Minister level was given for the UK team to deploy. Within Leicestershire the request to mobilise was received at Fire Control and our standard operating procedure swung into action.
The team was put together from immediately available members covering a range of specialist skills, such as USAR Operations Command, technical search specialists, team medic, chainsaw operations, hot metal cutting and shoring specialists.
The Leicestershire team consisted of Ian Holden from Central Station, Andy Hartley from Southern Technical Rescue, Steve Hare from the Specialist Training Department, and Ian Cotton, Vince Cooper and Ken Hughes all from Southern Technical Rescue. The UK team consisted of firefighters from Leicestershire, Hampshire, Mid and West Wales, South Wales, West Midlands, Grampian, West Sussex, Essex and Kent Fire and Rescue Services. This made a UK combined arms team of 65 persons.
The UK team initially deployed to Horley Fire and Rescue Station in West Sussex adjacent to Gatwick Airport, as this was designated as the UK point of departure. The charter plane that was booked to fly out was first delayed, then cancelled due to hydraulic failure. The team was moved to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, to board an RAF C17 Globemaster transport aircraft headed for Padang with a combined UK Fire and Rescue Service team and 6000lbs of rescue and relief supplies.
The 19 hours of travelling included a two hour stop over in the middle east to refuel, plus handballing all of the 6000lbs of kit off the plane at Padang, into thirteen small trucks and two buses. Eventually we arrived at the United Nations designated base of operations, at the sports stadium in Padang City. We were assisted into the country by British Embassy staff, who had specially flown up from Jakarta the capital.
Our self-sufficient tented base camp was up and running in about five hours, alongside the Australian Heavy Rescue team and Swiss canine and Medical teams.
The United Nations in conjunction with the Local Emergency Management Agency tasked the UK team with search and reconnaissance missions to areas north of Padang City, where no rescue or aid teams had visited. These areas were prominently paddy fields and jungle with some large market towns and lots of smaller villages, some of which had been affected by mud slides, loss of power and water as well as collapsed buildings.
The rescue teams were battling noon day temperatures of 45°C with 90% to 95% humidity dressed in full UK specification PPE, which made hydration and sun protection a major issue even before attempting any physical work.
Transport to the affected areas was by open-backed lorry driven by locals along with a local interpreter and guide, contracted by DFID to support us. Each vehicle had a search and rescue component, including search dogs and handler, a medical element and a command support element. We loaded our own personal and operation equipment and approximately half a tonne of aid supplies to distribute.
We had a number of chase vehicles from the UK media, consisting of the Sun and Telegraph newspapers and the BBC Asia correspondents and attendant camera crews, all keen to capture our work.
Out in the open countryside we came across many damaged properties, mostly single or two storey, masonry/timber buildings, not the heavy concrete or steel-framed buildings we had come equipped for. However, we completed the necessary needs assessment work in hand and distributed aid as we found where affected people had no or very poor shelter from the tropical rain storms that are frequent in this area that sits bang on the equator.
Using some very poor maps downloaded from Google Earth we navigated around the rural areas. We completed a round trip of approximately 75 miles, logging information as we went.
Other parts of the UK contingent made search sweeps at villages decimated by mudslides. Most of these were in mountainous jungle areas. Despite all the hard work, no live rescues were made, although much support aid was given to those who survived, allowing them to recover much faster and prevent further casualties.
