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The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Training Division, in partnership with RedR Australia, will be conducting Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Training of Trainers on February 4-23, 2013 at Amity Public Safety Academy (APSA), Bacolod City. The said activity is the 1st batch of USAR Training organized by the NDRRMC-OCD and RedR Australia funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) under the Technical Assistance Project on Capacity Building for Disaster Response for the NDRRMC.

The participants for this training are representatives from the Bureau of Fire Protection National Headquarters and Regional Centers, Davao Central Rescue 911, Makati Rescue, Pasig Rescue, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Olongapo City Rescue, Negros Rescue Federation, APSA, and OCD.

The instructors for the training are seven (7) USAR Technical Specialists from RedR Australia.

Two more batches of USAR Training are scheduled to be conducted in April and June 2013 and another batch in 2014.

OCD envisions the USAR training as a building block for the formulation and accreditation of at least four (4) USAR Teams by the UN International Advisory Rescue Group (INSARAG) for strengthening the Philippine USAR capacity.

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