174
THE ARMED SERVICES AND AUXILIARY SERVICES
With its range of staff and aircraft, the unit is able to provide both civil and military flying services to give Hong Kong an economical and flexible air service. In 1980, the auxiliary air force's single-engined Alouette III helicopters will be replaced by three new Aerospatiale Dauphin 365C twin-engined helicopters.
Civil Aid Services
The Civil Aid Services is a disciplined, volunteer service trained to assist the regular emer- gency services in dealing with natural disasters and other emergencies. Besides its emergency role, the Civil Aid Services provides assistance in crowd control duties at large public gatherings and helps in the organisation of local Chinese festivals, government publicity campaigns, fund-raising drives for charity, and sports meetings.
Civil Aid Services volunteers are trained to handle casualties, to conduct search and rescue operations when people are trapped in landslides or collapsed buildings, and to give assistance to people lost or injured in the countryside. Operational duties performed during 1979 included forest fire-fighting, country park patrolling, tropical cyclone duty, mountain search and rescue operations, and the clearance of blocked roads.
Following the influx of Vietnamese refugees, members of the Civil Aid Services played a vital role in the daily management of refugee camps and in the delivery of food supplies to refugees awaiting clearance in quarantine anchorages. Up to 150 members of the service were involved each day in these tasks.
The adult members of the Civil Aid Services, comprising 2,800 volunteers from all walks of life, are recruited into units in the areas in which they work or reside. This permits the rapid mobilisation of manpower within a specific area. Members are also more likely to understand the problems in their neighbourhoods, and to be familiar with the location of essential emergency facilities. Units have been established in the urban areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, and in Tsuen Wan, Yuen Long, Tai Po and Sha Tin in the New Territories.
Volunteers undergo six months' basic training in first aid, rescue work, forest fire-fighting and crowd control duties. Afterwards they are transferred to operational units where they are required to undertake emergency duties at short notice and in all weather conditions. The Civil Aid Services has a cadet corps comprising 2,200 boys aged between 14 and 18. The main aim of the cadet corps is to encourage boys to become useful citizens, to make them aware of their civic duties and responsibilities, and to prepare them for adulthood. These objectives are achieved through training, sports events, expeditions requiring initi- ative, and operational tasks such as country park patrolling, life-saving, mountain rescue, crowd control and assisting in fund-raising for charities.
Like their adult colleagues, cadets are recruited from the area in which they live or study. Cadets are taught basic skills similar to those practised in the adult service as well as camping, trekking, forest conservation, life-saving and mountain craft. More advanced courses are held for the older cadets in mechanical engineering, canoe fibre-glassing, welding and allied subjects.
At the age of 18, cadets must leave the cadet corps. However they may then join the adult branch of the Civil Aid Services or another auxiliary service.
Adults and cadets share a 20-hectare base camp used for training exercises and camping expeditions. The camp is situated on a plateau 250 metres above Castle Peak Road at Tsing Lung Tau. A centre for water-based activities is planned at Tai Tan on the Sai Kung peninsula. The Tai Tan site is already being used for camping and other activities by the Civil Aid Services.