Civilian rescue teams offer help at home and abroad

Many groups

The BSR was just one of 15 Chinese civilian rescue teams that joined the rescue operations in Turkiye. By 9 am on Feb 10, they had dispatched a total of 288 rescuers, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management. There was also an 82-member official Chinese team in Turkiye.

Like many other BSR members, Wang Yi and Wang Kaibo are veteran rescuers, as they have not only regularly undertaken training organized by the NGO, but have also taken part in many major rescue operations overseas since 2008.

For example, they were among 83 BSR members who went to Nepal after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in April 2015. At least nine other Chinese civilian rescue teams also dispatched members to the country.

Yang Yanwu, secretary-general of the earthquake emergency rescue committee at the China Association for Disaster Prevention, said the Nepal earthquake marked the first large-scale participation of Chinese civilian rescuers in a disaster abroad.

"Since then, they have joined almost all major international disaster rescue operations," he said, adding that such organizations really started to play a role in China after the 2015 Yushu earthquake.

Yang noted the rapid development in the number of civilian rescuers in China and their rescue capabilities. By the end of last year, 4,011 civilian rescue teams had registered with his committee, he said, adding that the total number of members is estimated at 600,000 to 640,000.

Of those teams, about 50 have equipment worth more than 3 million yuan ($432,000). At least 10 are fully qualified to undertake international rescue operations in terms of their equipment, rescue skills, understanding of international rules and linguistic competence, he said, noting that only about 300 of the teams have permanent employees.

Civilian rescue teams operate effectively either because they have wealthy leaders with a lot of free time, great passion and competence, or because their leaders are good at obtaining support, he said.

However, the number of teams that operate efficiently is not very high, he said, adding that some members have even sold their houses to support their rescue work.

Last year, local authorities found that more than 130 of the civilian rescue teams registered with them had irregular operations, he said, adding that the actual number could be even higher.

For example, some were established by local volunteers who participated in rescue operations during the devastating flood in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, in July 2021. They quickly ceased operations because no further disasters happened in the area, Yang said.

He added that despite the rapid development in the past 15 years, China's civilian rescue teams are faced with challenges to their long-term development.