韓国岳 Search
The search for Miyata Masaki kun
Hey everyone today I`m going to write about a search Mana and I with the rest of KRDA took part in at the beginning of November. By now the news has faded from the headlines but the events are still fresh in my mind with the final thought of “Japan still has a long f@#!$ way to go”, pardon my French!
From my time in the military our instructors were always yelling at us, “move with a sense of urgency!!”, and that once you get set on a mission don`t stop until that mission is accomplished no matter what it takes. This doesn`t seem to exist in some of the emergency crews of Japan and this last rescue in Ebino has me so angry. 
Miyata Masaki went to hike to the top of Karakuni dake with his parents and grandparents. Just after they started the hike Masaki kun asked to go on ahead and his parents said ok, that was the last time they saw him alive. It was a mistake to let him go on ahead and I`m sure his parents know that now so I`m not going to talk about that mistake any more as they have a long time to reflect on that now. What I want to talk about is the way the search was handled.
I know that the use if Search and Rescue dogs in Japan is still in its infancy so I won`t say anything about that, but my thoughts are of the Professional??? rescue services of Japan. 
Masaki kun went missing at around 15:20 on October 31st he wore a black parka and had a couple rice balls and a pet bottle of juice. Emergency services were called out and conducted a search. Once it started to get dark they called off the search for the night as they didn`t want to risk any injuries. To me I can`t figure this out, a boy is missing with a good chance of him still being alive, why stop the search?
The weather on Oct 31st on Waita San and the weather on Nov 2nd at Karakuni
The weather on the 31st was beautiful and warm but the weather forecast for the next day was rain and a drop in temperature. It was a full moon that night and to me the Fire, Police and Military are professionals that should be ready to go out in any weather and at any time! How professional are the Japanese rescue services if they can`t search for one boy on a well lit night on a well known trail?
I know it`s a little unfair compare how things are done here to how things are done in North America but just to give you an idea I copied an excerpt from the National Search and Rescue Association, a volunteer search and rescue society very well known in the U.S. and Canada. It states that, “When someone is reported lost or overdue, volunteer search and rescue (SAR) dog teams are available to respond, day or night, to help in the search effort.” Later on it states,” SAR dog handlers must enjoy working with dogs and being in the outdoors in all kinds of weather.” A search in North America would continue day and night for at least a few days until it was determined that there was little chance of finding the subject alive, then the search would be scaled back but still continue until the body was recovered.
The skill level of VOLUNTEERS in North America
The Level of PROFESSIONALS in Japan
To sum it up, in North America, volunteer search and rescue teams are available to search day or night in all kinds of weather. If volunteer rescuers are capable of doing this in North America then don`t you think that AT THE VERY LEAST the professional rescue services in Japan should be capable of this as well? If not, what are they getting paid for? Their job is to put their life on the line to rescue someone in distress, that’s the job, the risk of injury or death is always there, if you don`t want to accept that risk find another job because you`re putting others at risk!
The unfortunate but possibly avoidable result of the search was that Masaki kun was found dead at around 1200 on Monday the 2nd of November. The details are not completely clear yet but from what I`ve heard, Masaki kun fell off the side of the trail about 500m from the Onami Ike hut. He fell about 20m and had injuries to his face but he seemed to have survived the fall as he seemed to have moved from where he fell to where he was found, he apparently died of exposure. If these details are true then to me the Japanese Rescue services share responsibility in the death of this boy! If they kept searching that first night they may have found him in time!
2009.11.20 | Comments(1) | Trackback(0) | 救助犬ログ
