Valuable experience for SMART in Nepal

SEPANG: The Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team involvement in the Nepal earthquake mission is a valuable experience for SMART in seeking recognition from the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (Insarag), a United Nations organisation.
National Security Council secretary Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab said the team, which began making preparation sessions for the past three years, would undergo Insarag evaluation in February, next year.
"The Nepal search and rescue operations provided a golden opportunity for the SMART team to take part in the urban search and rescue effort which forms a major element in the evaluation later," he said.
He was speaking to reporters after greeting the SMART team that returned here from Nepal on an AirAsia flight which landed at KLIA 2 on Wednesday night. The 26-member SMART team joined the humanitarian aid team in Nepal one day after the incident which shook the country on April 25.
SMART, which was formed in 1994, had participated in various humanitarian missions including in Acheh, Timor Leste, Turkey, the Philippines as well as Ukraine during the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 tragedy.
Bernama reported that also on the same AirAsia flight were five Mount Everest climbers from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).