Disasters, earthquakes, fires and floods, terrorist attacks, flows of migrants are all things that could happen anywhere in the world. That is why the ability to work in a crisis to help the suffering, collaboration between the teams themselves and their partners are all a priority for the Bulgarian Red Cross in its endeavor to help the people and the state.

The organization has 28 crisis teams of volunteers - people of different walks of life – teachers, doctors, engineers, designers, psychologists, university professors. There are people with special skills – mountain climbers, lifeguards, mountain guides, all of them well trained in how to provide first aid.

This year’s traditional exercises of the Bulgarian Red Cross volunteer teams in Bourgas Kraimorie 2016 exceeded the territorial borders of Bulgaria. Teams from Romania, the French Red Cross and from Magen David Adom in Israel (the Red Shield of David) all shared their own experience with the Bulgarian Red Cross. 
In an interview for Radio Bulgaria, Marian Macelaru, director of the Romanian Red Cross in Giurgiu said:

“Our cooperation with the Bulgarian Red Cross goes back a long way. Five years ago we started conducting joint water rescue training. The first such exercises took place in Kavarna and then in Giugriu, in Kraimorie. I like to say: “If all’s well with our neighour, then all’s well with us.” At the moment we are working on a major crossborder project in Rousse – a joint Bulgarian-Romanian disaster monitoring centre. It will be funded by the EU and will be used to train teams from the two countries, something that will benefit both Romania and Bulgaria.”

Romeo Radulescu, originally from Romania has been living in Israel for many years; there he works for the Red Shield of David as a paramedic. It too relies on volunteers. How are they recruited and trained?

The French Red Cross works with 50,000 volunteers. 10,000 of them have first aid training. France has been the target of terrorist attacks and our question to Gilles Melfert who has been a volunteer for 20 years, is about them. What is it essential to know?

“During the first terrorist attacks I was on the job, so I did not take part, but during the attack in Nice I worked on coordinating the efforts of the French Red Cross with the local authorities and various ministries. Volunteers must know there can be no zero risk. When we are providing assistance during terror attacks we must be ready, we must know well the special procedures and requirements. Volunteers must know exactly what has to be done, what kind of materials they must have, they must be able to coordinate work with the authorities: the police, the fire department and other structures. To my mind that is the principal direction our work must follow.”

There are different systems of volunteer team rescue work in the event of disaster and calamity practiced by the Red Cross organizations around the world, but in their work they are all invariably guided by one supreme principle – saving human lives.

English version: Milena Daynova