China shares search and rescue expertise as Africa seeks to strengthen disaster response

Kenya has called for more international cooperation — including with China — to strengthen Africa's search and rescue capabilities through better training and equipment, as the continent braces for increased instances of climate-related disasters.

Duncan Ochieng, director of Kenya's National Disaster Management Unit, said the country has been among those in Africa severely affected by serious flooding associated with El Niño in recent years. Some people reported missing during the extreme floods between October and December 2023 in Kenya, which killed at least 174 people, still have not been found, he said.

A major obstacle to effective emergency rescue in Kenya is a lack of search 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," Ochieng said.

The conference, 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, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Turkiye.

Ochieng said countries like China could offer more professional training and specialized equipment to African countries to help them enhance disaster response capabilities. He said cooperation with China has already yielded positive results, citing a two-week training course he attended 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, Gambia, Nigeria, and South Sudan.

He said Kenya lacked specialized rescue equipment meeting international standards, as well as adequate funding for training and equipment procurement. The country aims to have its USAR team undergo an international assessment by the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group by around 2029, demonstrating its ability to meet internationally recognized operational standards and potentially deploy personnel to assist other countries.

INSARAG, a global network hosted by OCHA, promotes common standards and cooperation among urban search and rescue teams.

Ochieng said only five African countries had INSARAG-classified teams, with none in East Africa, while China has several.

He called on the international community to provide greater support for training and equipment, saying cooperation could help African countries gradually build their own professional and sustainable disaster response systems.

Among the Chinese participants in the conference in Mombasa 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," Zhang Yuran, a representative from Blue Sky Rescue, said.

The delegation also highlighted the affordability of Chinese-made equipment compared with similar products from European suppliers, including tools for urban search and rescue, debris removal, and water rescue operations.

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. The organization also plans to provide practical rescue training in the West African country in the future.

This is not the first time the Chinese rescue organization has worked with African partners. In August, Blue Sky Rescue signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kenya Red Cross Society and established a joint office at its headquarters.

Last month, when a multi-story building collapsed in Kenya's capital Nairobi, Blue Sky Rescue members used specialized search equipment at the scene to detect signs of life and help locate survivors.

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, and all those trained participated in the rescue operation.

Zhang said Blue Sky Rescue plans 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 African countries.

"The first and most important responders are always local responders," she said.

She said continued investment in national capacity should remain a central priority, emphasizing that international assistance should complement, rather than replace, nationally led response efforts.

Muscroft also called for stronger international cooperation, noting that disasters may strike locally, but their impacts can extend far beyond the affected area. Even well-prepared countries may face emergencies that exceed their own capacities, making regional and international cooperation essential.