Aid teams return from Nepal

Aid teams return from Nepal

Search, rescues make way for rebuilding

Family and friends travelled to the Don Muang Air Force Base Wednesday to welcome back the six-member team of the Royal Thai Armed Forces search and rescue team who were deployed to Nepal immediately after the April 25 earthquake. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)
Family and friends travelled to the Don Muang Air Force Base Wednesday to welcome back the six-member team of the Royal Thai Armed Forces search and rescue team who were deployed to Nepal immediately after the April 25 earthquake. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)

The Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT) yesterday said its team of six engineering experts sent to Nepal after the quake, the first of its kind from Thailand, was able to provide Nepalese building authorities with sound engineering advice for rescues in affected areas.

Family and friends travelled to the Don Muang Air Force Base Wednesday to welcome back the six-member team of the Royal Thai Armed Forces search and rescue team who were deployed to Nepal immediately after the April 25 earthquake. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)

The team, which just returned from Nepal, gave technical advice and consulted on building safety and how rescue operations could be enacted without causing further structural collapse. They worked with private and state agencies in Nepal, including the National Society for Earthquake Technology.

The engineering team comprising Prof Ekasit Limsuwan, Assoc Prof Komsan Malisi, Assoc Prof Supoj Srinil, Asst Prof Nunthawath Charusrojthanadech, Phanumas Saingam and Amrit Shrestha, a Nepalese graduate student at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, conducted surveys in the quake-affected areas between April 29-May 1, said Prof Suchatvee Suwansawat, president of the EIT.

Assoc Prof Siriwat Chaichana, secretary-general of the EIT, said the Nepal experience will be compiled into a book. "We will also continue helping Nepal by sending more engineering teams to the country," he said.

Meanwhile, the Royal Thai Armed Forces announced it will stop its search and rescue operation in Nepal, because the Nepalese government has asked countries to wrap up rescue operations as there is now little hope of finding more survivors.

The RTAF will wait for a formal request from Nepal as to what kind of further assistance it needs, said Supreme Commander Gen Worapong Sanganetra.

The RTAF team was expected to return to Thailand Wednesday evening, while the army's emergency medical team will be back on Tuesday, he said.

Deputy army spokeswoman Sirichan Ngathong said the army's rescue team arrived in Nepal on April 28. Since then, it has provided healthcare services to over 1,300 quake victims and produced more than 48,000 litres of clean water for a military hospital in Kathmandu and also distributed it to quake victims in the surrounding areas, she said.

All sub-teams of the RTAF's first team to Nepal returned to Thailand Wednesday, except for the paramedic and field water purification teams that are due to return home on Tuesday.

Army commander Udomdej Sitabutr said he encouraged the two teams to continue their operations up until the day they leave for Thailand, said Col Sirichan. The water purification team will install a water-purification system for the Shree Birendra military hospital before returning home, she said.

The army has transported relief supplies donated by the public to the quake victims through the army's donation centre, including 1,000 blankets, 210 camping tents and many types of medicine, she said.

Nepal has told international medical teams to wrap up their operations by Sunday and the international military teams by May 15, said Maj Gen Sansern, adding that only airborne units are allowed to continue their operations.

Nepal said Wednesday that 7,276 people died in the quake while 14,362 others were injured.

Over 200,000 houses were destroyed and close to 190,000 houses were partially damaged.

Most of the 100 million baht approved by the cabinet to be spent on helping Nepal has been disbursed, said Maj Gen Sansern.

The Foreign Ministry will meet concerned agencies tomorrow to adjust Thailand's operation plan in Nepal in accordance with the current situation there, he said.

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