Toby Meredith is a volunteer for the Serve On International Response Team who are helping with search and rescue efforts.
A University of Portsmouth staff member is part of a UK team who are helping with search and rescue efforts in Turkey and Syria, following the devastating earthquakes earlier this week.
Toby Meredith, Media Production Manager in the University’s Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries, is a volunteer for the Serve On International Response Team (IRT), which has just left the UK for the region.
Toby is part of the UK operations team who are coordinating the logistics of Serve On's search and rescue operations. He has joined volunteers from all over the country to help the IRT preparations, at their headquarters in Chilmark, Wiltshire.
On Monday, I spent several hours analysing routes to the region of Kahramanmaras, the location of the earthquake epicentre. I must have read the name a hundred times but it was only when I read a news article about a man in Kahramanmaras, who was holding the hand of his dead daughter under the rubble did the severity of the situation really hit home.
Toby is supporting Serve On's UK operations team. They use computers, mobile phones, satellite phones, maps and other technology to analyse huge amounts of data, including social media posts, to pinpoint where help is needed. This information is then used to improve the situational awareness and advise where the team on the ground can be of most use to the rescue efforts.
The UK team provides 24-hour rolling support to ensure the IRT have all the intel required to respond most effectively. They will also be monitoring the team's welfare and keeping their families updated.
Toby has also been joined by civil engineering student Andrew Roberts and graduates from the University’s MSc Crisis and Disaster Management course Laura Edwards, Graham Pipp, Patrick Desch and Craig Elsdon.
Toby said: “With a disaster of this scale there is a huge amount of information coming from multiple agencies. The local emergency management agency (LEMA) in Turkey, along with United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) agency coordinate the overarching disaster response.
“Our role is crucial in ensuring that information is analysed quickly and effectively to enable the responders to help save lives.
“On Monday, I spent several hours analysing routes to the region of Kahramanmaras, the location of the earthquake epicentre. I must have read the name a hundred times but it was only when I read a news article about a man in Kahramanmaras, who was holding the hand of his dead daughter under the rubble did the severity of the situation really hit home.”
Toby Meredith at the Serve On's IRT selection weekend
Our role is crucial in ensuring that information is analysed quickly and effectively to enable the responders to help save lives.
Toby joined Serve On's IRT last year after passing a very tough selection weekend, which aims to replicate the conditions the responders will face in a real disaster. He said: “If the weekend was even a tiny representation of the situation at the moment, all the responders have an extremely hard time ahead and we want to support them in every way possible.”
A way to support all the rescue and relief efforts in Turkey and Syria is to work on a mapathon. Syslab’s GeoHub project together with the Human RightS Initiative (HRSI) are running a mapathon on Friday 10 February from 3:30 to 5pm. Details and how to register are here.