AN ALBURY emergency service worker will head overseas for a month to increase the skill levels in a country prone to natural disasters.
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Albury and Border Rescue Squad secretary and deputy captain Paul Marshall is part of a six-member NSW group bound for Vanuatu in August.
Mr Marshall is the only Volunteer Rescue Association representative in the Rotary vocational training team, which also includes members from Rural Fire Service, Fire and Rescue NSW and State Emergency Service.
Rotary has also donated new equipment to emergency services in Vanuatu and the NSW contingent will teach personnel about its use and maintenance.
The trip will be a new experience for Mr Marshall, who applied and was chosen after interviews.
He said his training areas would include road crash rescues, vertical rescues and urban search and rescue techniques.
“And obviously everything in between, such as some stabilisation, the use of some heavy duty air bags if they need to lift items and the like,” he said.
“We’re just giving them a skill set and a multi-faceted skill set so that they can encounter everything from road crash right through to typhoons and earthquakes.”
Team leader and Rotarian Ian Johnston said Vanuatu was the world’s most at-risk country for natural hazards, according to the United Nations University world risk index.
After a disaster, the local emergency services could be on their own for at least 48 to 72 hours before foreign aid and assistance arrived.
Mr Johnston said the approaching trip fulfilled a long-standing Rotary goal.
“It has been a long but rewarding journey to get the project to this point and thanks go out to the many Rotarians, emergency service agencies and partners who have helped make it possible,” he said.
Mr Marshall thanked Wodonga firm Rice Graphic Images for supplying stickers and markings to go on the Vanuatu emergency vehicles.
He said adjusting to Vanuatu’s humidity could be a challenge, along with potential language barriers.
“Realistically with some of the training it’s not talking about it, it’s doing it that’s going to help these guys actually get the knowledge and the skills,” he said. “They’re actually very excited to have us over there and bring a fresh take on all their training and some new skills and some new equipment.”
A reciprocal visit of Vanuatu emergency service workers to NSW is planned next year.
“So I’m hoping we can host a few of them on the Border and show them our lovely part of the world,” Mr Marshall said.