Gary Foo has been involved in the emergency response community for over 20 years, starting as a police offi cer and more recently as the commander of a UN recognised Search and Rescue Disaster Response Team. He has worked for many governments including those of Pakistan, Germany and Canada as well as the Department for International Development (DfID), part of the UK government. He has commanded teams at many national and international disasters, including the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the Pakistan earthquake and the recent earthquake in Haiti. He has also acted as a consultant around the world, most recently in the Middle East, the Far East and South East Asia. He is retained by many governments and private agencies to advise on operational and leadership matters and is a published author and university lecturer.

Two of his more recent books focus on Emergency Response and Search and Rescue, and Tactical Communications. ”Disasters are by their very nature, chaotic. The fl ow of aid and logistics can become confused and bottlenecked and technology often fails. Recently in Haiti we were deployed to Port Au Prince - there was no electricity, no running water, no toilets, no internet and the mobile phone signal was weak and intermittent. ”This is no good when teams are using real time disaster mapping and trying to communicate with each other. As in Pakistan, our satellite phones were not always dependable and were expensive to use,” explained Gary.

“We saw a clear need for certain emerging technologies including mobile electronic hardware and satellite data communications to create a common picture in the field for responders and managers to work from. The teams need to access more Command and Control resources, like satellite data communications. Companies and organisations, like Excelerate in the UK, which can provide this technology, are on the cutting edge of the provision of such Command and Control resources.”

The Future 

It is Gary’s hope that creating a Common Operational Picture through the use of such technology will become as commonplace as mobile phones and 2-way radios. Gary believes that stand-alone comms and command coordination and intelligence (situational awareness, up to date mapping, real time updates, etc) required by disaster and emergency response teams can dramatically improve the effectiveness of response. ”National emergencies also require strong comms, although in reality these can be lacking – for example in the UK during the July 2007 fl ooding or the recent heavy snowfall and subsequent freeze in January 2010. There is inevitably an increased load on the usual communications systems, the infrastructure may be damaged, or other factors may affect the ability to communicate using normal methods. Broadband satellite data comms would be a Godsend in these situations when the increased fl ow of information is necessary.” Summing up, Gary Foo says: “I expect you will see more dependency on these systems in the near future, and I hope that we will see their emergence as commonplace. Companies such as Excelerate are leading the way.”