With weather disturbances expected to frequent the country in the coming years, 60 officers of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) went through extensive search and rescue (SAR) training at the La Mesa Dam in a bid to reduce casualties and increase efficiency in times of calamities.

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the police officers participating in the program were provided with brand-new rubber boats in simulating real-life dangers during emergency operations.

With climate change causing heavy rainfall, Belmonte underscored the importance of the training not only to beef up the number of emergency personnel but also to get the police officers accustomed to calamity-like situations.

He noted that getting the emergency and rescue teams from the local police fully prepared during crisis minimizes deaths, injuries and damage to properties as the program allows them to get used to adversities common in natural disasters.

Senior Police Officer (SPO) 1 Aurelio Villanueva said the extensive emergency training is the closest thing to real life calamities saying that their exposure provided with the possible scenario they might encounter during actual rescue work.

He admitted the lack of professional and rigid emergency training might have caused the loss of lives especially as panic begins to set in during impending disasters. “Don’t get me wrong. I just want to explain that more lives would have been saved if the rescuers were properly trained on the modern techniques of rescue operations. It is difficult to get the job done flawlessly if the SAR groups lack proper training and the needed equipment. I salute them for risking their lives under the circumstances,’’ Villanueva added.

Tadeo Palma, secretary to the Quezon City mayor, said the aftermath of “Ondoy’’ prompted the Quezon City government to acquire additional inflatable rafts for emergency cases like flashfloods.

He said that as part of the agreement the supplier of the rubber boats provided training on the use and proper maintenance of the rubber boats including maneuvering techniques and rope course which may come in handy during real life disastrous situations.