US embassy cable - 05WELLINGTON683

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000683 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USAID/OFDA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AEMR, EAID, PREL, US, NZ 
SUBJECT: TFUS01: ADDITIONAL DETAILS ON NEW ZEALAND'S OFFER 
OF ASSISTANCE FOR HURRICANE KATRINA RELIEF 
 
REF: (A) WELLINGTON 679; (B) STATE 163414; (C) STATE 163366; 
(D) WELLINGTON 675 
 
1. In response to ref B, post provided in ref A the names 
and contact information for the New Zealand disaster 
assistance teams that the New Zealand government has offered 
for assisting in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. 
 
2. In further response to ref B, following are additional 
details on the disaster assistance teams: 
 
(a) Urban Search and Rescue Team: 
 
The Urban Search and Rescue Teams locate and remove trapped 
and often injured victims from collapsed structures or 
environments.  The teams bring together highly trained 
personnel (some of whom have trained with U.S. counterparts 
and would be fully interoperable with FEMA teams) from New 
Zealand's emergency services along with engineers, medics, 
and search dog pairs. They have specialized equipment and 
effective communications.  There are about 50 people in one 
task force.  They can deploy at relatively short notice and 
could operate for one to four weeks.   The team would take 
its own equipment. 
 
Instead of the full team, individual elements of the 
taskforce could be provided if this would meet particular 
needs.  For example: up to 14 support personnel 
(communications/logistics); a team of up to 4 engineers; up 
to 48 rescue technicians (who can do a vast array of 
activities ranging from technical rescue body recovery, to 
stabilizing, to assessment); or, a team of up to 6 medics 
(these personnel are not from the New Zealand Fire Service 
and would need to be released from their host agency). 
 
(b) Police Disaster Victim Identification team: 
 
The New Zealand Police could deploy 10 staff members with 
skills in logistics and Disaster Victim Identification 
(DVI).  The team has experience operating overseas and has 
been deployed in the Solomon Islands, exhuming bodies, and 
after the tsunami in Thailand, where it worked as part of a 
multinational team on all phases of the recovery and 
identification of victims. 
 
The team would include a management cell.  It would comprise 
both sworn police offers and non-police staff members, as 
follows: 
 
Contingent leader, responsible for management and liaison 
Contingent 2I/C, responsible for logistics, administration 
and intelligence 
Forensic pathologist, non-police 
Forensic odontologist, non-police 
Six-member police DVI team (sworn police officers trained 
in: crime scene investigation; fingerprint examination; 
other specialist forensic service areas; all property 
sections; missing persons) 
 
The contingent skills could, if necessary, be mixed and 
matched to include extra dentists, fingerprint officers or 
pathologists.  However, from experience, the above makeup 
and number of team members have been optimal to form a self- 
resourcing unit. 
 
New Zealand Police DVI members are experienced in: 
-- Initiating DVI scene procedures. 
-- Searching for all remains and property. 
-- Recording and retrieving all remains and related 
property. 
-- Dividing the incident site into grid areas, taking into 
account the terrain and position of all remains and debris. 
-- Monitoring and coordinating DVI Phase One teams, 
including support. 
-- Receiving and storing human remains. 
-- Removing, recording and storing property. 
-- Conducting scientific examinations of the human remains. 
-- Coordinating the repatriation of the human remains. 
-- Establishing the DVI Ante Mortem Coordination Center. 
-- Establishing the DVI Ante Mortem Files Section. 
-- Establishing a missing persons/potential victims list. 
-- Conducting interviews with the potential missing 
person/potential victim's next-of-kin. 
-- Providing the analyzed information about the missing 
person/potential victim to the DVI Reconciliation Center, on 
the relevant yellow Interpol DVI Ante Mortem Form. 
-- Establishing the DVI Reconciliation Center. 
-- Establishing the DVI Reconciliation File Section. 
-- Operating the DVI Reconciliation Specialist Team. 
 
3. Post has been told that the New Zealand Embassy on 
September 7 also will provide the above information to 
Ambassador Malloy. 
 
BURNETT