The Red Cross Society of Seychelles is holding a seven-day training camp this week with the aim of improving it's volunteers' disaster management skills.

Based at the Cap Ternay Youth Village, the training camp, running from August 3 to 9, has been designed to increase the competency of the Seychelles Red Cross in dealing with small and medium size disasters at a district or even national level.

Topics to be covered over the course of the week include disaster management systems, needs assessment, radio communication and first aid.

As well as the Red Cross volunteers the training camp has also drawn participants from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Local Government's Emergency Brigade.

To assist the Seychelles Red Cross Mr Farid Abdulkadir, the Director for Disaster Preparedness and Response in the Kenyan arm of the society has travelled from Nairobi in order to observe and instruct.

Speaking at the scene of an emergency simulation exercise, on the road to Cap Ternay, Mr Abdulkadir said that he would be offering instruction on the coordination, planning and implementation of disaster management operations.

The Kenyan expert said that the volunteers he had seen at work were, "very interested in what they are doing and there is a zeal and dedication."

"They take their work very seriously and are an inspiration for anyone who comes to talk to them," he added.

The Seychelles Red Cross Information Officer, Mr Hugue Albert, explained that the training camp formed part of the 2010 initiative of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, designed to empower it's volunteers and partners so that they can better participate in disaster management

Despite having only two full time paid staff, the Seychelles Red Cross still has over 400 volunteers on it's books. Attending the emergency simulation exercise were 25 of them, all trained to varying degrees in first aid and emergency treatment and working under the gaze of Mr Roy Nibourette, the Disaster Response Coordinator of the Seychelles Red Cross.

Both Mr Albert and Mr Abdulkadir stressed the need to work in tandem with other emergency service providers and a communiqué issued by the Red Cross states that the society aims to meet the needs of people affected by disaster situations where they are not immediately available from other agencies.

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