Multinational earthquake drill concludes in Chengdu

CHENGDU - A six-day multinational earthquake drill organized by the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) concluded on Saturday in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The drill, co-sponsored by the Chinese and US governments, involved 142 emergency rescue experts and rescuers from the United Nations and 16 countries including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Norway and India. Of the total, 71 were from China.

The drill simulated a scenario based on the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, which left more than 80,000 people dead or missing.

It allowed the participants to coordinate their work on sounding an international alarm, mobilizing international urban search and rescue teams, on-site emergency rescue command and evacuation, said Zhao Ming, director of the Disaster Relief and Emergency Rescue Department of the China Earthquake Administration.

Established in 1991, the INSARAG is an intergovernmental network under the framework of the United Nations, engaging in the coordination of urban search and rescue and disaster responses, the establishment of international standards for urban search and rescue and the facilitation of relevant global cooperation.