In recent years, China has built only eight national land search and rescue bases, one of which is in Urumqi. Last October, the construction of Xinjiang’s second land search and rescue base began in Karamay, marking a further strengthening of the region’s land rescue capabilities.
At the same time, the number of land search and rescue teams in Xinjiang continues to grow, and the enthusiasm of civilian volunteers involved in land rescue is high. From the Wenchuan earthquake to the Lushan earthquake, from the search for missing mountaineers on Muztagh Ata to the rescue of missing hikers in Motuo Valley, Nanshan, Wusu — the Xinjiang land rescue teams have achieved remarkable results.
Search and rescue teams remain weak in strength
The Xinjiang Red Cross Blue Sky Rescue Team has four branches across the region. In the year and a half since its establishment, the team has carried out more than ten search and rescue missions. Many team members are familiar with the numerous challenging hiking routes in Xinjiang. However, An Shaohua, captain of the Xinjiang Red Cross Blue Sky Rescue Team, deeply feels that their search and rescue capabilities are still very limited. On one hand, many areas in Xinjiang lack civilian search and rescue teams; on the other hand, as a purely non-profit organization, they refuse to involve any commercial elements, resulting in not receiving a single penny in social donations. All expenses are covered by members themselves, so the state of training and equipment can be easily imagined.
“There is another issue: when a sudden rescue call comes in, there are too few team members available for deployment.” According to Tang [name unclear], liaison officer of the Ili branch, “of the 30 team members, only about a third can be deployed immediately. Some members are employed and cannot leave their jobs, so most of those who can respond quickly are private business owners and self-employed individuals.”
Speaking about the current state of civilian search and rescue teams, Yu Zhongtao, general manager of Xinjiang Ancient Road Exploration Co., Ltd., was blunt: the people are professional, but the equipment is not; the enthusiasm is high, but the training is insufficient. Search and rescue teams driven solely by passion and with no proper gear will definitely not be effective in rescue operations.
Even government-established search and rescue teams acknowledge the weakness of Xinjiang’s rescue capabilities. Jin Yingjie, deputy director of the Xinjiang Outdoor Sports Rescue Team Management Center, who is on duty by the outdoor emergency rescue hotline, told reporters that the Xinjiang Outdoor Sports Rescue Team is an official search and rescue unit formed by the Autonomous Region Sports Bureau, with only 15 members. During busy periods, there is a shortage of personnel, and outstanding members need to be selected from civilian rescue teams for reinforcement. This team mainly focuses on high-altitude rescues, while low-altitude rescues still rely on civilian teams. Additionally, the official rescue team is not all-powerful. For example, under the current imperfect national rescue system, there are no professional helicopters or pilots. Renting a helicopter for rescue costs 60,000 yuan per hour, and arranging for a helicopter requires certain procedures and time.