Back country teams bring skills to urban disaster

As emergency response personnel go building by building to establish the safety of Christchurch infrastructure, a small team whose focus is usually anything but urban is collating the mass of hand-written USAR records into a database for Civil Defence.

Kirsty Percasky and other Department of Conservation staff are entering the data so building search reports can be mapped to guide searchers in their continuing efforts.

Based in the police mobile incident unit on the fringes of Latimer Square, teams of DOC staff have been working shifts around the clock to get the massive job done.

The task is so huge that the department has been supplying 24 people working in three shifts per day since Monday.

As each of the estimated 27,000 buildings is searched a new bit of paper arrives with details of what has been found, whether the building is safe to enter and what further actions are required.

The work is crucial and accuracy is vital to ensure the safety of USAR staff and to avoid unnecessary repeat searching.

With often sensitive information the team requires both speed and discretion, something Kirsty and her colleagues from across the country are confident they will deliver.

Though normally working for the Waimakariri Area Office dealing with permits and licenses, Kirsty said the DOC team has slotted in really well to the emergency response role bringing well-rehearsed skills to the table.

DOC staff members undertake regular training in dealing with emergency situations such as rural fires.
The Christchurch earthquake is exactly the sort of thing they are prepared for, albeit on a vastly different scale and working alongside different agencies.

While removed from all the destruction on the ground as they type away in the confines of a relatively small workspace, the processing team nonetheless have a strong connection to what’s going on.

Kirsty said most of the completed search forms are handed in by those who have done the search, so there’s plenty of contact with the Australian police contingent and others who pop in with their paperwork.

There’s also plenty of aroha, Chocolate fish and pats on the back that keep coming the teams’ way giving them an oft-needed and very-welcome lift in what can be a seemingly endless and sad task, but one the Department of Conservation colleagues will complete with care for USAR.