Practicing Now to Save Lives Later:

Tuesday, 30 June 2009 16:25

Joint exercise initiative enhances preparedness for mine disasters in Despotovac 

Over 200 participants worked hand-in-hand during a joint rescue simulation exercise held in Despotovac this May. The success of the mock rescue operation to save victims of a simulated methane explosion at the Vodna coal mine served to illustrate how a well-coordinated response effort by first responders can save lives and ensure that the injured receive urgent medical care immediately. “We wanted to showcase the response effort of all rescue teams and emergency medical units involved in crisis situations, as well as the chain of communication and the overall importance of inter municipal cooperation necessary to execute an effective rescue operation,” said Ljubisa Dobrosavljevic, Deputy Mayor of Despotovac Municipality.

This was the first such exercise after the tragic accident which occurred inside the Rembas-operated coal mine twenty-five years ago, back in April 1984, when 34 miners lost their lives with seven more suffering serious injuries. The simulation exercise was very large in scope, involved all relevant local and regional stakeholders, with support provided from the Ministries of Interior, Health, Energy and Mining, the Serbian Medical Association and USAID’s Preparedness and Planning program.

The exercise was organized by Despotovac’s local self-government and its disaster management Standing Body. The local emergency health care unit, emergency medical service from Nis, the local Red Cross chapter and the mine’s rescue squad also participated in the organization of the event. Firefighters and rescue units, as well as gendarmerie units from Despotovac and representatives of 20 emergency medical services across Serbia raised awareness about the need to prepare for such circumstances through coordinated action by all relevant service agencies in the event of a disaster.

Despotovac is one of 60 Serbian municipalities included in USAID’s Preparedness and Planning program. The program builds a systematic approach to local-level disaster management by working with municipalities to enhance their disaster response effort in the event of natural or man-made disasters. The program helps local-governments to improve their disaster management capacities through simulation exercises, which serve to improve coordination and cooperation of all actors at the local level. This particular simulation exercise was unique as this was the first time a local company participated – the Rembas coal mine – which operates as a part of the Public Company “Resavica”. As an active member of the private sector in Despotovac, the company recognized a potential coal mine disaster as a significant risk for civilians in the area and decided to contribute to the exercise.
“Mining conditions are similar across all mines, whether we are speaking about mines in China or the US,” said Mr. Zlatko Dragosavljevic, Director of Resavica, a public company, in a press conference following the exercise. He also added, “This degree of cooperation between all relevant service agencies is a great way to illustrate the ability of rescue operations, but at the same time, a great way to both detect weak links in the response effort and an opportunity to learn and make adjustments for all participants in the exercise.” The Rescue Squad Commander Radenko Cvetic mentioned that there is still a need to acquire new equipment for the rescue squad since “the equipment is old and outdated, and the team is in charge of all the other eight underground coal exploitation mines across Serbia.” He further added that, “It is my pride and honor to serve in a rescue squad that is made up of the best miners in the business.”

Simulation exercises used to be a routine occurrence as they were an obligation of all institutions and citizens in the once well-organized civil protection system in former Yugoslavia. The former system’s human, material and auxiliary resources were centralized up until the beginning of the 1990s, throughout which time, the system ceased to function due to the turmoil besieging the country. In Spring 2006, when Serbia’s major rivers flooded large parts of the country causing massive landslides across the country, 87 municipalities and towns reactivated the civil protection headquarters, as well as all other services available at the local level, as well as public utility companies and municipal governments. By that point it was too late to reverse the damage caused to commercial and residential property, so work concentrated solely on mitigating the effects of the flood in the shortest possible time period. Following this bout of flooding, it became self-evident that the existing protection and rescue system in place needed fundamental reform. In March 2009, Minister of Interior Ivica Dacic announced the establishment of an integrated Sector for Emergencies within his Ministry. Recently, an agreement has been made to merge the Ministry of Defense’s Departments for Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Interior’s Sector for Protection and Rescue into a single integrated Sector for Emergency Situations. The move will create a safer environment for citizens and businesses by combining all available resources under one roof. At a recent certification ceremony acknowledging towns and municipalities for enhanced disaster resilience, Mr. Branko Jovanovic, the Ministry of Defense’s Deputy Head of Department for Emergency Situations stressed the importance of a normative and structural establishment of an integrated system with clear roles, rights and responsibilities of all stakeholders.

Natural disaster risks facing Serbian citizens are many, as are the resultant consequences impacting the towns and municipalities following these catastrophes. Depending upon the severity of the crisis, few municipalities have the wherewithal to deal with the aftermath, let alone less prepared municipalities, which is why USAID’s Preparedness and Planning program works to enhance municipal capacity to withstand natural disasters. For that reason citizens are right to expect an organized, professional and efficient response by the protection and rescue system in relation to potential risks. Past experience has shown that in the event of an emergency, first responders at the local level are in the best position to be mobilized promptly—therefore, their expertise, technical equipment and effective coordination are crucial in disaster response efforts.

“Safety is like oxygen – under normal circumstances, nobody thinks twice about it; however, when it’s missing, everyone seeks it.” Branko Jovanovic, Ministry of Defense.