The Saudi Red Crescent Authority (SRCA) plans to form a specialized emergency response team termed as 'Saudi Humanitarian Emergency Aid and Response Team (Saudi HEART)' to provide emergency response to disasters both within the Kingdom and in support of international humanitarian response activities with special concentration on public health, emergency shelter, medical relief and supply and logistics operations. Members of the team will be trained in all aspects of humanitarian emergency response.

Saudi HEART is a comprehensive training program that delivers basic and specialized courses on humanitarian emergency response and recovery for the Saudi Red Crescent Authority (SRCA).

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) is bringing together a group of experts and partners to train participants of Saudi HEART.

Over 60 courses, conducted in three batches for 100 participants will be delivered by ADPC with support from key technical partners such as International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), International Committee for Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC), as well as technical resource persons from OCHA and other UN agencies.

The core courses address:
? disaster management
? emergency public health
? logistics and relief operations
? risk communication and information management
? gender and diversity, and
? personal safety and security

Participants also learn about SPHERE guidelines, IMPACT and International Humanitarian Architecture.

Specialized courses are held for establishing:
? assessment team
? search and rescue team
? public health team
? logistics and support team
? emergency operations center team, and
? communications and IT support team

The 100 member Saudi HEART team, based in Riyadh, is trained and available for deployment for emergency response both within Saudi Arabia and to another country when SRCA decides to undertake a response operation.