Know what to do in disasters: rescuer

Australia is under constant threat from natural disasters, yet the vast majority of
families are unaware of what to do when one hits.
Australian para-rescue team member Eddy Andrews says there are not many countries
which deal with bushfires, floods and cyclones year-round and are able to
effectively deal with it.
"We're lucky that if something happens to us, we can call 000 and we know our
professional emergency services, both paid and volunteer, are going to be running
for us to help save our lives," he said.
But with the danger of so many potential disasters on the doorsteps of Australian
families, Mr Andrews wants people to start taking action to help SES in the first 24
hours after a disaster strikes.
Co-founder of The First 24 Hours Foundation, Mr Andrews says that largest number of
lives can be saved during that early time period by everyday people.
The foundation's research shows 80 per cent of people are saved by those already on
the disaster sites, not by specialist emergency teams, yet 97 per cent of the world
do not know what to do after a disaster.
If the community can get proactive about their reaction, it could help take the
pressure of SES services when they arrive, Mr Andrews says.
"It is going to free up the resources from the emergency services to help people
that may (need it) - the elderly people, the disabled people," Mr Andrews said.
The First 24 Hours Foundation have devised the 303 plan, which asks people to spend
thirty minutes setting up a disaster response plan and then reviewing it every three
months.
The plan is split into four steps - get informed about the hazards in your
community, develop a plan, assemble a disaster kit and maintain your plan.
Mr Andrews said it is up to Australia to lead the way for the rest of the globe and
the organisation hopes to implement the 303 plan in two billion homes worldwide over
the next 12 months.
A major push for that will be on Wednesday, October 13, the United Nations
international day of disaster reduction, where the foundation will conduct a
worldwide education lecture on global disasters.
Mr Andrews said events such as the Haiti earthquake, the Pakistan floods and the
tsunami in Asia could have benefited from a response plan, where it took too long to
get global emergency services on the ground.
To solve this, families signing up to the 303 plan will be asked to donate five
dollars once a month to put into a super fund.
The money will fund the unbudgeted responses to disasters around the world while a
daily update of bank statements on the foundation website will show exactly where
the money is spent.
"There's been jobs that I've been sent to, where we've been waiting for an ambulance
for two hours, two days," Mr Andrews said.
"(The funding means) ... if Haiti needs 10,000 tents flown in there, instead of
going through the UN system or the government system and waiting two weeks or three
weeks to get tents in there, it's done straight away."
The First 24 Hours Foundation will also be emailing a letter to chief executives
around the world on Monday, to spread the word through the web about the 303 plan.



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