With her owner holding her leash, Philippine pooch Hazel sniffs through rubble in a simulated search for survivors of a major earthquake in Metro Manila.
Hazel is taking part in a program training pet dogs and their owners in search and rescue so they can be deployed in the aftermath of a disaster.
Every Sunday, about 46 mongrels and purebreds of all sizes are put through their paces by volunteer trainers at a facility in Metro Manila where they learn to find people, scale ladders and bound over wooden structures.
Photo: AFP
Philippine disaster agencies already have search-and-rescue dogs that are deployed when disasters strike the archipelago nation.
However, there are concerns that there might not be enough of them if a major earthquake were to hit the sprawling metropolis of Manila.
Hazel, who was a skinny street mutt before she was adopted by her owner, Nathalia Chua, lacks the pedigree of some of her classmates. However, she shows plenty of enthusiasm as she follows instructions to search rubble, overturned water drums and small wooden huts.
The three-year-old barks and wags her tail when she finds a person hiding in a drum, drawing cheers from trainers and back rubs from Chua.
“My end goal with Hazel is just to be as prepared as possible if the ‘big one’ comes,” 17-year-old Chua said, referring to a major earthquake seismologists predict could strike the city one day.
Manila is vulnerable to quakes due to its location on the West Valley Fault and its proximity to the Manila Trench off the main island of Luzon.
Seismologists believe the movement of either one could trigger a major earthquake in the city that could kill tens of thousands of people.
The MMDA K-9 Corps volunteer group has trained about 700 pet dogs since it began the program in 2016.
It aims to train at least 3,400 pet dogs in search and rescue across the city.
“We all know that for the ‘big one’... we really need to be prepared,” trainer Katrina Florece, 25, said at the training facility owned by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.
Hazel was malnourished and fearful when Chua found her in 2021 during a family holiday on the western island of Palawan.
The search-and-rescue training has helped her become calmer and more confident.
“She loves it,” Chua said. “I think even if the dog doesn’t end up enjoying search and rescue, joining this is a great opportunity to learn and bond with your dog.”
Dogs have to complete at least 12 training sessions before they can be deployed in real-life disaster response operations.
US chef Jon Hrinyak, 40, regularly brings his German Shepherd Oly to the training in the hope that they might be able to save someone’s life one day.
“You hope that when something happens... we can be there to assist someone,” Hrinyak said.
“A single life that we can help is worth it,” he said.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
RSS