Imtiaz Sooliman – tells us about the Gift of the Givers Disaster Conference
AI: Summary ©
A representative from Stellenbosch is speaking with Dr. im guests about a disaster conference that will focus on disaster intervention and how to deal with it. The conference will cover topics such as disaster intervention, disaster management, and disaster management systems. The speakers will also discuss the importance of skill development and how to adapt to various scenarios.
AI: Summary ©
Privilege to speak to Dr imtia Suleiman here in Cape Town ahead
of the disaster conference in partnership with the Stellenbosch
University next week. Now, this conference will focus on how to
deal with disasters, but let's get stuck right in with Dr Suleiman,
Doctor, thank you so much for your time. We know you're very busy.
What is this conference about? This conference will teach you the
A to Z of disaster intervention from the time, for example, an
earthquake strikes, the call comes, how you prepare, how you
arrange, the type of teams you take, the type of temperament, the
logistics getting to area, the risk, the diplomacy, the type of
equipment required, the type of interventions, the type of
procedures, how you adapt. There's no machines, there's no equipment.
There's broken hospitals, how you deal with the trauma and the
stress of the people, how you get moving to save lives. It's a total
combination. It's not a theoretical conference. It's not
about academic learning about something from a textbook. Every
presenter is a gift of the givers. Presenter, every presenter has
been on a on a disaster. The panel, those that don't speak will
augment what those have spoken. They've missed out something. It's
years of experience brought together. Thank you to selenberg
University. It's given us an opportunity to synthesize
everything that we've done over the years, and we give the public
an opportunity to see what it's all about. It's not a medical
conference. It has disciplines of medicine involved. Sorry, it has
the search and rescue canines, trauma counseling, logistics and
every aspect communication, systems, networks, diplomacy,
every aspect of what's required. Sorry, in an international
conference, why do you think a conference like this is necessary?
It's important that the world knows that South Africa has the
capability to involve and intervene in any type of disaster.
When we were in Hatay to Turkey, is the city in Turkey that was
totally flattened. We had 12 different countries there. They
were amazed at the skill of South Africans. We were the only team
that was not sent by government. Every other team there came from a
government, and in fact, they said they want us to be part of them in
any other disaster. They were impressed, and we want to pass
those skills on, to show the country that we have the skills,
and not only the country the continent, to say that as
Africans, we can do this. And the other point on that is, when you
travel overseas and you're telling me, from Africa, the first
question they ask you is, what did you come to fetch? You guys have
the backing board. You always want things for free. What can you guys
do? And we want to encourage our people to say we have the skill
and we can make a difference. And actually, we've heard also from
Doctor Chu saying that South African surgeons, our medical
teams, are actually very, very highly skilled and can work under
any conditions. Yes, they've seen that in all parts of the world,
you know, we have the experience. We've got our type of situation in
our hospitals, you know, and our guys who come from worst, first
world countries, come to very, you know, organized type of medicine
equipment, technology that doesn't happen in a in a disaster zone.
And even if you have the technology in disaster zone, it's
totally destroyed in a major earthquake or a war, and you left
to your own personal devices, your acumen, your inner skill, your gut
feel. And you have to do that kind of intervention. For example, at
one of the disasters, we asked for orthopedic drill, and the guy
brings a Black and Decker, which we use for DIY. And orthopedic
surgeon said, Yes, we can use it. And this conference will teach you
how we adapt, how we modify, how we change rules to save lives.
It's about saving lives under any circumstances.
We've heard earlier there was a question asked that everybody
knows by now that if there's a crisis in the country, gift of the
givers will be there. And it seems that government works in silos.
Where do you find there's a disconnect?
Why don't we see that the response that you bring from our government
institutions? I've addressed it with government directly, and I
said, you guys don't have a coordinated system. This
unfortunate government is too fragmented. Who is involved, who
is in charge? Is it national? Cockta? Is it provincial? Cockta?
Is it disaster management, which is a separate body altogether? Is
it disaster management in the municipality? Is it the
municipality? Is it canine? Is it a defense force? Is it, you know,
some other, ah, teams within different parts of the country,
and that is glaring in the KZN floods, there was no clear chain
of command. Who's in charge? You need one guy at the top, says,
police, military, disaster management teams from the rest of
the country to come such a rescue. We need you from Gauteng, limpopo,
kamu, KZN is you? They don't have that kind of system. That's the
first problem. The second problem is we need alternate communication
systems. In in disasters like this, cell phone networks go and
you need two way to reduce two way radios. Nobody had that. We've had
so many disasters in the last few years. There's no backup supplies
in terms of mattresses, tents, blankets, food, parcel, nothing.
All those systems needs to be addressed to be more coherent. But
more than that, you need one central chain of command. That's
only way we're going to figure.
Is responding to disasters in a very efficient manner. So what do
you hope those who attend your conference will take away? We're
hoping they learn how we operate, but many of them do now we operate
because they are the ones that call us in the first place to get
to the different areas. But the fact that municipalities have
called provincial disasters have called. They want to send
delegates again. They want to know the budgets available you know
within the departments to send
them.