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The Civil Aid Service (CAS) is a government auxiliary emergency service
established under the Civil Aid Service Ordinance. It has an establishment
of 3 634 adult volunteers, 3 232 cadets and
115 civil servants.
The primary duty of the CAS is to provide civil support
services during emergencies. Members of the volunteer service are trained
to perform emergency duties during typhoons, flooding and landslips; to
search for and rescue people in distress in the mountains; to help evacuate
or rescue victims trapped under collapsed buildings or buried in landslips;
and to combat vegetation fires and also oil pollution at sea.
In 2003, CAS members were moblised twice during typhoons,
once for a flood rescue operation, 58 times for mountain search and rescue
duties, and 47 times for vegetation fire-fighting operations. At the peak
of the SARS outbreak, between March and June, the CAS was mobilised to
man the medical surveillance posts at all land control points; to assist
the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau in managing the isolation centres;
to distribute daily necessities to residents under home confinement at
the Amoy Gardens housing estate; and to escort suspected SARS contacts
to the isolation centres.
The CAS continued to deploy more than 200 members
for vegetation fire-fighting and hiking trail/country park patrol duties
on Sundays and public holidays during the dry season periods (January
to April and October to December). In other duties, such as providing
assistance in crowd management, the CAS assigned members to 233 public
events and also deployed 35 members daily at the Lo Wu Control Point.
During the year, the CAS continued to provide safety
and skills training to other government departments, non-governmental
organisations and organised groups. The training included 10 talks on
mountain safety, and 24 courses covering basic mountain search and rescue
work, safe movements on slopes and at heights, and crowd management. In
support of the Pre-employment Training Programme and the Smart Teen Challenge
Camp Scheme, the CAS organised under these two programmes, respectively,
a disciplinary module training course for 35 school leavers and five training
camps for 450 secondary students.
The CAS endeavours to develop leadership potential
and cultivate civic awareness among youngsters by recruiting persons in
the 12 to 17 age group for the Cadet Corps. Apart from participating in
recreational activities, cadets are trained in a wide variety of disciplines
and skills including foot drill, basic emergency rescue, mechanical and
electrical knowledge, printing and binding, fibreglass moulding, crowd
management, rock climbing and expeditions. Cadets aged over 14 are also
encouraged to participate in crowd management duties at major community
events and to carry out hiking trail/country park patrol duties. |
