Safer tourism: Rescue 1122 to introduce online registration system

Programme director says service is crucial to deal with emergencies

GILGIT:

Rescue 1122 plans to introduce an online registration system in Gilgit-Baltistan to deal with emergencies and ensure tourists feel secure about travelling in the region.

“The initiative is called Safe Tourism,” Rescue 1122 DG for Gilgit-Baltistan Dr Sher Aziz told The Express Tribune on Saturday. “The programme’s control room will be based in Gilgit.”

Visitors will have to register themselves on the Rescue 1122 website by providing details about their group and destinations.

“Once the relevant authorities have all these details, they will be in a better position to respond in case of an emergency,” Aziz added.

Accidents are frequent on G-B’s mountainous terrain. Furthermore, a large number of people, including tourists, have lost their lives to other mishaps such as landslides and drowning incidents.

“So far, there have been no checks and balances,” said Aziz. “We don’t have information about how many people there are in a group and where they are heading to.”

He added the communication gaps have resulted in a loss of life in an emergency.

The director plans to provide training to nearly a dozen other staffers to launch rescue operations in “running water”.

“We’ve planned this training in Mangla where retired SSG officers will be instructors,” Aziz said. “This will be key for G-B where the water flow of rivers and streams is much faster and varies from the plains of areas like Punjab.”

Rescue 1122 was setup in August 2011 by the G-B government to deal with emergencies.

In the past six months, at least 200 staffers have been given training for emergency management.

With a staff of 202 men and women, the department has 12 emergency vehicles, including ambulances and fire vehicles.

In addition, the department has nearly 2,500 volunteer blood donors in the region.

“We plan to induct over 150 staffers in the coming days to ensure we are able to tackle emergencies and disasters wherever needed,” said Aziz, whose department is yet to be regularised.

The director said Rescue 1122 service is free of cost and the response time is usually eight minutes in Gilgit town.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2015.