A team of Military Emergency Unit (UME), consisting of 56 soldiers and four dogs, took off this morning in an Aerospace Army A400 aircraft from Zaragoza Air Base to Marrakesh to assist in the search and rescue of survivors of the devastating earthquake in the neighboring country. The Minister of Defense announced this Sunday, Daisy Robles.
“It’s already in the air A400 aircraft to Marrakesh with a UME contingent made up of 56 soldiers from the Zaragoza battalion, four dogs and various materials,” explained the Minister at the beginning of her visit to learn about the work carried out by the Paratrooper Brigade to install a walkway in Aldea del Fresno (Madrid ), a city affected by DANA.
Robles has also announced that he is in contact with the Community of Madrid to organize further transport with all materials related to civil protection. “Later another flight will be sent with various relief materials from the Autonomous Communities,” has detailed.
The EU staff deployed to Morocco consists of a search and rescue team BIEM IV (Zaragoza), with 46 soldiers and a headquarters coordination team (UMEDAT) with 10 soldiers. There are also four dogs from the cynology team.
The Minister of Defense highlighted “Spain’s commitment” to the citizens of Morocco. “We will try to help as much as possible to save lives, as has been done in Turkey in the face of dramas of this magnitude,” he said.
What EMU has and why it will be useful in Morocco
The UME has search and rescue teams (USAR) certified for both areas.r United Nations and the European Civil Protection Mechanism, which provides opportunities to search for survivorsdead people in the rubble with cynological devices or technical means (geophones, telescope cameras or georadar).
In addition, these devices can be used to cut and drill structures such as reinforced concrete Rescue the victims once they have been located and access cleared.
Also, They have means of detecting possible toxic or explosive substances to ensure the work of the interveners.
These UME teams have already participated in earthquakes such as those in Haiti, Lorca, Nepal, Ecuador, Mexico or the recent one in Turkey, where they deployed in February this year and located six people alive under the rubble.
avalanche of solidarity
The wave of solidarity with Morocco is enormous. The Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE) is “deeply shocked” by the earthquake in Morocco, which has already left more than 2,000 deaths He has made himself available to the Moroccan authorities for whatever they need.
In a statement, the FCJE expressed its solidarity King Mohammed VI and to the Moroccan people, especially those affected by the tragedy, stressing that they share very strongly the drama they are experiencing, since Morocco is “a brother country and the motherland of many Spanish Jews”.
“We hope that solidarity and mutual support will be the pillars that will lead us to rebuilding and rebuilding in Morocco,” explains the association, which announces that it will mobilize in a campaign of solidarity and support.