【Program Organizer: Captain Kannan Selvaraj (Singapore Civil Defense Force)】
What is this course aiming?
―The aim of this course is to train international participants on the tactics and techniques of conducting Urban Search and Rescue operations in Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) settings.
At the end of the course participants should be able to explain the concepts and principles in managing and handling rescue operations in USAR settings, conduct rescue missions professionally in various rescue scenarios and demonstrate a high level of rescue skills proficiency and equipment know how to effectively mitigate a USAR disaster.

Which cities have participated in the course so far?
―China ,Taiwan ,Macau ,Australia, Maldives, Taipei, Delhi, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and many more

How did you exercise your ingenuity in designing the program? What was the hardest part?
―USAR is a very extensive and vast topic and trying to cover everything in 2 weeks is a challenge. We do our best to design our course by choosing a variety of different USAR lessons, to keep the course interesting and ensure that all our participants are able to participate and grasp as much as possible from the course.

Do you have any interesting episode during the period of the training?
―The interesting period would be the final exercise that we conduct for the course participants. We try to simulate a realistic setting of an overseas mission and we give them different rescue scenarios back to back. The participants will have to work for long hours and will need to keep their composure throughout the exercise. The participants will not know what the scenarios we have in store for them are and when the whole exercise will end which keeps them on their toes at all times.

When do you find your work rewarding?
―I enjoy teaching and I look forward to administrating overseas courses. Being able to meet rescuers and firefighters from other countries, work together with them and share best practices is really an experience I look forward to and the most rewarding part of the experience is to see them complete their final exercise and graduate from the course successfully.

Please give a message to members from Asian rescue team who are considering participation to the International Urban Search and Rescue Course.
―If you are looking for a course to learn more about USAR, put your USAR skills to practice, challenge yourself, meet rescuers from other countries and share best practices. The International Urban Search and Rescue Course may just be the right course for you.

【Participants from ANMC21 member cities: Mr. Manish Kumar (Delhi Fire Service)、Mr. Tsai Ming Hsiu (Taipei City Fire Department)】
What motivated you to participate in the International Urban Search and Rescue Course in Singapore?
―Mr. Manish; I am working with Delhi Fire Service, which is responsible for providing fire safety cover to the capital city of the country. The city is prone to various natural hazards such as earthquake, flood, cyclone etc. apart from fire. It is also prone to manmade hazards such as radiological emergencies, industrial hazards etc. As per the earthquake atlas, the city lies in zone 4. All these combination can lead to multiple fires, collapse structure causing unprecedented damage to life, property and environment. Although we have undergone various courses, however the international practices were never experienced. In order to save lives and mitigate hazards as a capacity building measures, the department focused on best international practice and therefore nominated 11 officers to undergo International Urban Search and Rescue Course at Singapore.

―Mr. Tsai ; The reason I join this training is to learn more rescue techniques because I think it can improve the performance of my job.

I felt the schedule everyday was fully packed. How were the contents of the training?
―Mr. Manish; The training schedule was totally packed and understandingly gave use little time to relax. But then obviously it was for own benefit. The content of the training was relevant to the subjects and focused not only on the theory but followed by putting into practice all that what has been taught in the class room. The contents were not only balanced but also ensured that adequate knowledge is gained on scenarios likely to be faced during emergency.

―Mr. Tsai ; It's about how to search and rescue someone who needs help but trapped in collapsed buildings.

Were there any advantages to participate in the actual training? Please tell us about programs in the course which you thought useful for your city.
―Mr. Manish; The participation in the actual training was fruitful and definitely advantageous as it gave us opportunity to gain firsthand experience of various techniques and to put them into practice as well. As I have already mentioned that the city is highly prone to earthquake and flood and therefore the rescuing from collapse structure will definitely give us insight as well as confidence to put them in practice in order to save precious life.

―Mr. Tsai ; In order to help people who those in danger around the world, it seems that communication will be a big issue if you want to share your information with the people comes from another country because the language we use are different. But by this training, I had learned more ways for rescue from another country that I didn't know before. By did this, I could get more experiences and now if I join the mission no matter where is, I think we could know what the other person do even we can't talk each other.

What was the hardest part of the training this time?
―Mr. Manish; Each day of training was tiresome; however the continuous exercise of 28 hours, comprising of putting to use all that we have learnt, was the most challenging as well as undoubtedly the hardest.

―Mr. Tsai ; The hardest part of the training is the very high temperature in Singapore. High temperature cause rapid consumption of physical strength. Wearing masks, helmets, long sleeves, so that the temperature rises rapidly, rescue personnel cannot perform duty for a long time.

During this training, other participants from cities around the world got together. I'm sure you must've had many chances to talk. What did the participants from other cities think of the training?
―Mr. Manish; During the training as well as after the training we interacted with the participants of other countries and exchanged ideas and views about the facilities available in our respective countries. All were of opinion that the knowledge and training facilities, which were available at Singapore are the best and the training is given in the most professional manner.

―Mr. Tsai ; In my opinion, those participants from other cities (include me of course) are thinking that the training in Singapore is a very good chance to let people exchange some experiences about rescue skills each other.

I believe you had a lot of opportunities to interact with fellow trainees outside of the classroom. What was it like communicating outside of the classes, and in the living environment of the dorms?
―Mr. Manish; Apart from training side we used to exchange our views about the organizational structure of fire and emergency service, fire safety regulations, routine at work place and many more things related to fire & rescue services of each other's states and we always used to compare with each other's services. We also experienced diverse culture of different countries.

―Mr. Tsai ; It's really fun if you communicate with other people by poor English plus body language. But I think it's very OK even we can't talk each other smoothly. We always know what the person mention with we talk to. We share opinions about those knowledge we got from classes or ask other people something we didn't figure out from the classes.

How did you spend your time after classes on the weekdays or on weekends?
―Mr. Manish; During weekdays we hardly had any time to visit places in Singapore, but we always exchanged views on facilities available in our own country with others. During weekends we visited many places such as Jurong Point, Sentosa, Silosa beech, Orchard Road, Clark Quay, Little India, Mustafa Centre, Chinese Garden and Marina Bay in order to learn about the way of life in Singapore and the development and progress the country has made.

―Mr. Tsai; At weekend, we go out to do some shopping and have some local food just like other tourists and it's really a joyful experience because we came from different cities and in here, we just for the training at first but now I think I get lots of friends by this opportunity. And also, Singapore is a really nice place.

Lastly, what was the best part of this training?

―Mr. Manish; The dedication and competence of the training staff as well as the methodology they applied in taking us through the various stages of training during this course was not only the best but will go a long way in molding our future.

―Mr. Tsai ; I am very honored to participate in this training, and very happy to be able to make friends who come from all different countries.