DRONERESPONDERS has arrived in Latin America. AIRT and APD Humanitario officially unveiled the spanish language-based initiative during a special week-long workshop for emergency services professionals held from January 21-25 in the capital city of Colombia.
The DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance was launched in April 2019 at AIRT’s UAS DRONES Disaster Conference in Miami. The program, headed by retired fire chief Chares Werner, has quickly expanded to over 1,500 member-organizations reaching across more than 33 different countries.
The Latin America rendition of DRONERESPONDERS is spearheaded by APD Humanitario, a Bogota-headquartered non-profit organization that promotes the humanitarian use of drones for emergencies and disaster response. In June 2019, AIRT and APD executed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate drone-based public safety and disaster response training and facilitating deployable resources for the region.
“APD Humanitario is proud to be working with AIRT to expand the DRONERESPONDERS program across Latin America,” said Pablo Heredia Cantillana, Executive Director of APD. “While the region has many unique challenges and varying cultures, our network of APD partners will work together to educate and train emergency services professionals based on the core principals of DRONERESPONDERS.”
Heredia-Cantillana says APD plans to introduce DRONERESPONDERS throughout Colombia before promptly expanding the program across the continent. The official launch of DRONERESPONDERS in Colombia included representatives from Colombia’s premier emergency services organizations including Civil Defense Colombia, Firefighters Colombia, The Colombian Red Cross, and others.
“The expansion of DRONERESPONDERS into Latin America is a clear indication of the increasing global demand for knowledge and education surrounding the use of drones for emergencies and critical incidents,” says Andy Jaques, Director of International Affairs for AIRT. “APD Humanitario is the perfect partner for us to expand the DRONERESPONDERS program across the southwestern hemisphere.”
Jaques says that AIRT is in contact with additional prospective international partners who have expressed interest in joining the DRONERESPONDERS movement. He says the DRONERESPONDERS International Council has been created to serve as a conduit to facilitate global interest surrounding the program.
“The diverse cultures representing each region of the world, combined with distinct civil aviation authorities and various emergency response structures, will require a nuanced approach to the expansion of DRONERESPONDERS,” says Jaques. “We are working closely with APD Humanitario to develop a model that can be expanded globally if required.”
Source: Press Release