Working to bring closure
SEARCH-and-rescue teams have been stretched to their limits in KwaZuluNatal over the past three weeks as they rescued victims and recovered the bodies of those who died in the devastating floods that hit the province.
SAPS Search and Rescue, along with the Metro Police Search and Rescue and private rescue teams have been working long hours to bring a sense of closure for families.
The teams have been working out of the Virginia Airport.
They said they were currently focused on recovery operations and the toughest part to deal with was the recoveries of children.
They were also hit with a tragedy of their own as Pietermaritzburg SAPS diver, Sergeant Busisiwe Mjwara, and police dog Leah drowned while conducting a search in the Msunduzi River for three victims who had drowned.
Garrith Jamieson, spokesperson from Advanced Life Support, said: “The hardest part is when children are recovered. Most medics have children at home and this hits hard.
Fortunately there’s a lot of emotional support around for all rescuers and a good support structure all around.”
Metro police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Parboo Sewpersad said their officers had been working with various teams.
“It’s been a joint effort with the Fire Department and various search and rescue teams. It’s been emotionally disturbing as a lot of the metro policemen involved in the search and rescue have children and it’s not easy to recover bodies, especially of children.
“In times like this you need to have a passion for the job and be dedicated. The team spirit in this operation is so important.”
Sewpersad added that the work was difficult, but thinking of families who have relatives missing because of the floods is what keeps the officers motivated to carry on.
“We keep going as we know there are families out there who don’t know what happened to their loved ones. The recovery of the bodies of loved ones brings closure to families as they need to know what happened. But it’s also unfortunate to bring closure in this way, in the recovery of bodies.”
Andreas Mathios, a Pinetown community activist who has been actively involved in the search and rescue operations since the floods began, said the support of the community keeps teams motivated.
“The community have been supportive and they’ve been providing food parcels to search-and-rescue teams during their shifts. The support keeps teams motivated to keep going to find and recover missing people who are unaccounted for.”
Mathios added that there has been camaraderie among search-and-rescue teams.
“At the end we want to do our best to bring closure to families and we have a job to do. The teams are professionals and they are able to deal with the trauma. The job is dangerous and there are various challenges. We want to make a difference to all affected families.”
Shawn Herbst, Netcare 911 spokesperson, said that the process of recovering bodies had taken its toll on emergency workers. He said Netcare 911 staff had a support group through the Netcare group.
“It gives us more than enough support which includes emotional support
and psychological support.”
Herbst added that there were also services available at the Virginia Airport.
“There are psychologists along with other people with various medical qualifications, who are available to counsel all the emergency members that are involved in this operation.
“Otherwise the guys are doing good. They understand that there is a specific protocol that they have to follow and they know what they’re doing. They have done it before, just not on such a large scale, but the guys are coping.”