Doha: Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) completed the first phase of its Fifth Disaster Management Camp, in which participants took several international-standard courses over the period 2-7 April.
Starting on Tuesday, the second phase of training features an unreal urban disaster, and trainee groups are to respond by visiting several facilities and institutions in Al Khor to conduct post-disaster assessment. Meanwhile, information is sent by radio that the Camp is receiving displaced people, and the available teams are required to manage the case as appropriate.
On Wednesday, the ninth day of the Camp, participants will practice a simulated disaster response scenario, to be actually performed on the last day before a host of figures and representatives from government and nongovernment organisations.
Coached by Dr. Hossam Faysal, IFRC’s Disaster Management Coordinator for the MENA region, Saeed Al Harthi, a UN trainer, and Reem Al Mreikhi, a trainer at Sheikh Eid Charity Foundation, volunteers attended workshops on the importance, goals, and stages of assessment in emergency.
The curriculum also covered assessment tools, such as data collection instruments, statistics interviews, and field surveys. Students learnt how to perform community and applied mapping using direct observation to produce assessment forms. In terms of coordination, the sessions discussed the importance, difficulties, and levels of coordination, in light of Sphere standards.
A new addition to the Camp’s programme is the establishment of a field hospital, which comprises a set of tents and medical/nonmedical equipment, operated by 5-8 trained people and staffed by local volunteering assistants. In emergencies, the hospital is moved on-site to provide a full range of medical services if public health services are dysfunctional or inadequate.
The 40-bed mobile medical unit can be deployed promptly and work self-sufficiently for 30 days with no external supplies. With its basic capacity, it can work nonstop for 100 consecutive days to help up to 3000 people through its several sections: outpatient clinics (offering public advice about infections and therapeutic nutrition), accident and emergency, sterilization, uncomplicated surgery, maternity, anesthetics, medical laboratory, and pharmacy.
The Peninsula
