The Tricky Ethics of the Lucrative Disaster Rescue Business

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The Tricky Ethics of the Lucrative Disaster Rescue Business

Postby wayno » Tue 04 Aug, 2015 10:20 am

On Saturday, April 25, Andy Fraser lay in bed at the Rokpa Guest House, a modest three-story hotel in Nepal’s ancient capital, a city of 1 million sunk in a valley bordered by the Himalayan range. Fraser, a powerfully built 38-year-old British wilderness paramedic with a shaved head and prom­inent brow, had arrived a few weeks earlier for an extended business trip. A lifelong adventurer, he’d cut his teeth in London’s frenetic ambulance service, taught English at a salmon farm on an island in Chile, and spent six months treating snakebites at a clinic in rural Zambia. Recently, though, things had changed. He’d gotten engaged to another British paramedic, Becky, and with 40 approaching, he’d decided he needed to find what he called “a real job.”



http://www.wired.com/2015/08/search-and-rescue-for-sale/
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Re: The Tricky Ethics of the Lucrative Disaster Rescue Busin

Postby Travis22 » Tue 04 Aug, 2015 2:46 pm

if the climbers and private orgs werent there, wouldnt there be a lot less choppers and emergency response people there in the first place?

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Re: The Tricky Ethics of the Lucrative Disaster Rescue Busin

Postby wayno » Tue 04 Aug, 2015 3:01 pm

Travis22 wrote:if the climbers and private orgs werent there, wouldnt there be a lot less choppers and emergency response people there in the first place?

Travis.


thats who they are there for... thats who pays their bills... i think the argument is , in real time of need who should take priority? couldnt the climbers wait while the seriously injured were dealt with first?
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Re: The Tricky Ethics of the Lucrative Disaster Rescue Busin

Postby horsecat » Tue 04 Aug, 2015 3:36 pm

wayno wrote: couldnt the climbers wait while the seriously injured were dealt with first


Very tricky in that situation. Some climbers above EBC were getting ill from being quite high as they were doing their acclimatisation rounds and had to descend, plus they were in danger in C1 and C2 on Everest with the risk of avalanches pouring down, and they were running out of supplies. The icefall had collapsed so there was no other way down. Anyway, it was really a matter of picking up whoever they could. As for the more remote areas, much of the terrain in Nepal won't even allow choppers to get in. The weather when the quake hit was very wet with low cloud over much of Langtang and to the west of the capital, hence it made sense to head to the Khumbu area where they could ferry the injured and dead down to the airstrips. Many of the climbers in C1 & C2 were dropped down to EBC and then hiked out whilst the choppers continued down with the more seriously injured. Some of these climbers also stayed there and helped the injured etc. I think it should be noted that the pilots who did those flights were very brave and saved a lot of people (both local and westerners). There was no "proper" way to deal with what happened; it was simply a full-on disaster of epic proportions. The Nepalese and westerners worked together very well in most instances. Also, many of the western climbers were indeed seriously injured (and killed).

Travis22 wrote:if the climbers and private orgs werent there, wouldnt there be a lot less choppers and emergency response people there in the first place?

Travis.


There isn't that many choppers available over there and the "emergency response people" are in fact often the climbers (Nepalese and westerners). Nepal relies on the military and police for much of this and remember EBC is at 5,500m and most of these guys aren't acclimatised for that height.
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Re: The Tricky Ethics of the Lucrative Disaster Rescue Busin

Postby Travis22 » Tue 04 Aug, 2015 3:37 pm

I couldnt judge anyone based off that story, it sounds like at the end of the day its chaos and everyones doing the best they can.

He mentions the chopper wasnt used for their private clients until there was a quiet time and they werent being used for others given the govt has commandeered all private choppers during the emergency. So at the end of the day its one hell of a juggling act and if it wasnt for the climbers there paying these private orgs then there would be a lot less choppers in the first place.

I assume at the time the people on Everest were still all in a potentially deadly position. As for the example of the injured person he met in need of immediate help but unable to afford a flight, why wasnt he put on a chopper during the times when they were being controlled by govt aid departments?

Again it would be chaos, and i couldnt imagine the size of the scope of works. Id image there are different choppers for different purposes? Perhaps some arent suitable for some individuals depending on their injury ie unable to sit in a std seat?

It was a great read but i guess at the end of the day i dont believe the private orgs are in the wrong, their clients werent 1st priority. They were collected when a free chopper could be sourced.


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Re: The Tricky Ethics of the Lucrative Disaster Rescue Busin

Postby horsecat » Tue 04 Aug, 2015 3:43 pm

Travis22 wrote:...it sounds like at the end of the day its chaos and everyones doing the best they can.


Yep.
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Re: The Tricky Ethics of the Lucrative Disaster Rescue Busin

Postby aloftas » Wed 05 Aug, 2015 10:30 am

Personally, considering the place is littered with bodies, and oxygen tanks and whatever other crap these people decide to haul up there and leave, PLUS the fact the mountain is sacred, the whole shebang should be shut down.
Finis.

End of story.

Just wait till all the ice melts and the fetid human soup comes cascading down the once pristine watercourses.

As someone said, there are NO heroes on Everest.


Anyway.

Trust me to be contrary.

Just call me mary.
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Re: The Tricky Ethics of the Lucrative Disaster Rescue Busin

Postby horsecat » Wed 05 Aug, 2015 10:46 am

:roll:
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