Britain Relies on Lessons Learned from Bali Bombings Page 1 of 1

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4:11pm (UK)

Britain Relies on Lessons Learned from Bali Bombings

By Louise Barnett, PA

British authorities used lessons learned from the aftermath of the Bali bombings to co-ordinate their response to the Asian tsunami disaster, experts said.

On the day the killer waves struck, teams of Foreign Office officials flew out to Sri Lanka and Thailand where they joined locally-based staff.

In the UK, the Foreign Office joined forces with the British Red Cross to set up a helpline for British nationals affected by the disaster.

A Metropolitan Police call centre was then set up in Hendon, north London, to cope with the huge volume of inquiries.

As of January 6 the centre had received some 135,000 calls, many of them from people concerned about missing friends or relatives.

The Metropolitan Police is leading the massive investigation into potential British loss of life. Since Boxing Day, some 500 officers per day have been involved in the inquiry, police sources said. Their task is to sift through the huge volume of information to ascertain which Britons in the tsunami-hit area at the time were “likely or very likely” to have been involved in the disaster.

Five refrigerated mortuaries have been sent from Britain to the Thai resort of Phuket in a bid to stop bodies decomposing and buy more time for identification to take place.

DNA, fingerprints and, most commonly, dental records are used to identify the dead.

There are now 65 British police officers working in the Indian Ocean countries, 40 of them in Thailand. Following lessons learned from the Bali bombing, a team of Red Cross stress and trauma experts was sent to Thailand to help victims of the tragedy.

A 16-person tsunami unit now operates round the clock at the Foreign Office, with more staff due to arrive in Asia by the weekend.

http://news. scotsman.comlprint.cfm?id=3973 566&referringtemplate=http%3A%2F%... 10/01/2005