With their faith in God and the courage of a typical Comando this morning, a small contingent from our main base left this morning to Mexico City to join in on Search and Rescue/Recovery efforts already underway for the last 24 hours when the earthquake hit Tuesday September 19th.
Comando Veterans included Roberto Campos, Jhonny Edgar Ramos, Carlos Vásquez, Roberto Márquez, Josué Najarro and Edwin Portal. One by one they gathered their belongings and said goodbye to their families. One of their children wrote a message on a prominent social networking site, “We will pray that you return dad, you are an example to follow by dedicating your life to save others, I love you and await your return.”
This Wednesday afternoon, a second group of Comando volunteers will be sent to Mexico to help in recovery efforts.
El Salvador’s USAR team which is composed of members from Comandos de Salvamento are heading to Mexico City in collaboration with other groups in order to help the public that were affected by two earthquakes.
These young volunteers have been specifically trained in the search, rescue and recovery operations and will be dispatched in a few hours in order to help our Mexican brothers and sisters that have been affected by three earthquakes within the span of one month. More than 100 have been killed or disappeared.
Comandos de Salvamento SAR team participated in a rescue and evacuation exercise on floor 8 of the main government building down town.
The simulated exercises started with employees leaving the building to secure and safe designated areas while helping geriatric visitors. SAR workers arrived minutes after to assist. Bomberos, CDS, Red Cross and Green Cross also collaborated in the exercise in order to be more prepared when large building fire happens like the one earlier this year at Tres Torres Government buildings.
CDS responded to the “Tres Torres” fire at the government dept. of treasury today where one government employee, Mrs. Nubia Karina Campos, died at the scene and others suffered various traumas due to the 4th level being engulfed in flames.
Comandos, and other grass roots EMS agencies and the National Firefighters saved many other government officials. The Salvadoran Airforce FAS also collaborated and was able to rescue two people from the top roof. Two employees made the choice to jump to save themselves but suffered grave injuries as a result.
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