Africa looks to China for search, rescue know-how

Kenya has called for more international cooperation with partners, including China, to strengthen Africa's search and rescue capabilities through better training and equipment, as the continent is fighting against increasing climate-induced disasters.

Duncan Ochieng, director of Kenya's National Disaster Management Unit, said the country had been among those in Africa severely affected by serious flooding associated with El Nino in recent years.

Some people reported missing during the extreme floods between October and December 2023 in Kenya, which killed at least 174 people, have still not been found, he said.

A major obstacle to effective rescue during emergencies in Kenya is the lack of research and rescue equipment, he said at the International Conference on Strengthening Search and Rescue Services in the African Region, which concluded in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa on Friday.

"If we had more professionally trained rescue teams and specialized equipment to locate missing people, we could save more lives."

The event, co-organized by the Kenyan government and organizations including the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, brought together government officials, emergency response experts and search and rescue teams from across Africa and other parts of the world, including China, the United Kingdom and Turkiye.

Ochieng said countries including China could offer more professional training and specialized equipment to African countries to help them enhance disaster relief capabilities. He said that cooperation with China has already yielded positive results, citing his two-week training in China on urban search and rescue capacity building in July last year together with dozens of other trainees from African countries such as Cameroon, The Gambia, Nigeria and South Sudan.

He said Kenya lacks specialized rescue equipment that meets international standards, as well as adequate funding for training and equipment procurement.

Among the Chinese participants at the Mombasa conference was a six-member delegation from China's Blue Sky Rescue, a nongovernmental emergency rescue organization.

"After our presentation, representatives from many African countries expressed interest in the rescue equipment we showcased and our professional training programs," said Zhang Yuran, a representative from Blue Sky Rescue.

During the conference, Blue Sky Rescue signed an emergency assistance cooperation agreement with Sierra Leone's National Disaster Management Agency and donated a Chinese-made drone to support search operations.

Last month, after a multistory building collapsed in Nairobi, Blue Sky Rescue members used specialized search equipment at the scene to detect signs of life.

Anthony Muchiri, emergency operations manager at the Kenya Red Cross Society, said 23 Red Cross personnel and seven members of the Kenya Defence Forces took part in the search and rescue training provided by the Chinese team.

Zhang said Blue Sky Rescue planned to conduct a second round of training in Kenya before the end of this year, focusing mainly on water rescue.

In September, the Kenya Red Cross Society purchased 50 specialized rescue boats from China to strengthen its response capacity in the face of potential flooding.

Sarah Muscroft, chief of OCHA's Response Support Branch, called for more investment in local rescue teams in Africa, saying that continued investment in national capacity should remain a central priority.