Public and private authorities have the obligation of ensuring the security and safety of citizens and providing the necessary equipment to face all kinds of accidents and unusual circumstances, mainly natural disasters and those resulting from war situations. This is why the preparation to such eventualities must be studied and organized according to the means that are available in each region, or district or city. It has also to abide by a clear plan defining the obligations and responsibilities of each authority, so that we can avoid panic situations which very often impede, or at least delay rescue operations.

For this action plan to succeed, some features have to be ensured: first of all accuracy which improves with experience; then flexibility in order to facilitate the execution of the plan and its application in all situations.

Injured people should be rushed to the nearest place next to where the accident took place in order to receive the first aid before being transferred to a hospital. These operations have to go along with other measures that require technical and preliminary skills such as providing water, electrical power, supplying oxygen and blood and coordinating among the different authorities concerned.

Management of rescue operations

Managing rescue operations is the responsibility of two specialized authorities which in spite of having different roles and functions have to coordinate their activities in order to ensure the success of the operations.
The first authority is represented by the manager in charge of suppressing the disaster, defining the safety zone and facilitating rescue operations. The second authority is the director general of medical supplies.

Transportation of victims after the disaster

Victims should be carried from the scene of the accident to a place where their condition can be assessed and their number counted. Transportation should be assured by people enjoying experience and good field knowledge. The assiduity and perseverance of the authorities concerned and the advanced equipment and techniques of the institutions concerned are necessary to confine and decrease the impact of the disaster.
Rescue operations are limited to the necessary lifesaving measures. In case there are different rescue teams, tasks shall be distributed in an organized and fast way; gaining time is essential for the good progress of operations.
It would be preferable at this stage that the medical team doesn’t intervene on the field (because of the imminence of danger and the cost rise). The security forces, however, are responsible at this level. They have to put up safety barriers in order to keep the citizens away and prevent them from gathering in the accident place.

Gathering the victims in the same center

One of the basic rules in casualty medicine is that the first rescuers who arrive to the accident place should ask for the help of the rescue team as quickly as possible, after assessing the accident and the number of victims. They should also ensure a place where they can move the victims to and assess their condition. This place must be close to the accident field and at the same time outside the threatened area. It must be spacious and easy to get to, with wide lanes for rescue vehicles, and equipped with medicines and first aid material (water, power, oxygen, blood…)

Advanced medical center

In some cases, however, ensuring a close medical center capable of fulfilling this function and meeting the generally required conditions proves to be impossible. Therefore, the available medical center has to provide first-aid for the severely wounded victims and those who cannot be immediately rushed to a hospital.

The importance of setting an action plan for each region or caza

The distance separating the place of the accident from big cities and equipped hospitals requires an action plan in adequacy with the geographical situation of the related region or caza. Supplying water, power, oxygen and blood is indeed much more difficult in the remote regions than in those situated in the center of Beirut and close to the important hospitals. That’s why we should set a specific action plan, according to the geographical situation and the human and technical elements of every region or district, and make sure they coordinate well among each others.

The Public Works Commission is working today in collaboration with the YASA Association, on developing a series of recommendations addressed to the officials of the concerned ministries.