Cairo: Building emergency response teams

Members of the Libyan Red Crescent Society (LRCS), with support from the ICRC Libya and Cairo delegations, visited Egypt for a peer-to-peer experience exchange with the Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERC). The occasion was a joint training on building emergency response teams. The training course was held from 14 to 17 September 2017 in the ERC headquarters in Cairo.

During this peer-to-peer opportunity, four senior staff members of the LRCS joined 25 volunteers of the ERC on a four days training. The training began with an introductory session about the ERC's work in Egypt, different activities implemented and the Movement's history in the country. The training included a session on first aid in emergencies.
Over the next three days, the volunteers were divided into six EATs to acquire more knowledge about teams' deployment, operations management, evacuation techniques, safer access, safer withdrawal in the field, dead body management, teamwork, stress management and how to communicate effectively with media and other community partners in the field.

The training also included multiple simulation exercises in which participants were able to put into practice their acquired theoretical knowledge.
Since 2011, the ICRC in Egypt has been working to support the ERC in order to set up and train 150 emergency action teams and supplying them regularly with first-aid supplies and wound-dressing materials.
"Our goal is to prepare teams of Egyptian Red Crescent volunteers to respond to emergencies with minimum delay and maximum efficiency," said Amal Abdelaaty, cooperation responsible at the ICRC Cairo delegation.