Civil Aid Service
Encyclopedia
The Civil Aid Service or CAS(民安隊) in short is a civil organisation that assist in a variety of auxiliary emergency roles, including search and rescue operations in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

:
  • providing support to the government regular emergency forces on counter disaster activities, mountain search and rescue, flood rescue, countryside fire protection duties;
  • providing crowd control and management services in major public functions;
  • patrolling country parks and hiking trails and assisting people in need of help;
  • staging performances to enhance public attention on major campaigns or activities organised by government departments and non-government organisations;
  • providing training activities and professional services on mountain safety/rescue for government departments and non-government organisations and


CAS is funded by the Hong Kong Government and members wear uniforms.

History

Formed in 1952 under the British colonial government of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 (CAS Ordinance) and modelled after Civil Aid agencies in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

As well, a youth section, CAS Cadet Corps, adds 3,232 volunteers to the regular 3,634 force.

The concept was introduced during British rule, an organisation also found in Britain.

Organisation

CAS are headed by the Commissioner and CAS (Department) by Chief Staff Officer (also Deputy Commissioner).

Rank

  • Commissioner (Grade Senior VII Officer)
  • Deputy Commissioner - Ops, Admin and Support (Grade VII Officer)
  • Senior Assistant Commissioner (Grade VII Officer)
  • Regional (Hong Kong, Kowloon, New Territories) / Cadet Corps / Support Force Commander / Administration Force / Tactical Force (Grade VII Officer)
  • Duputy Regional / Cadet Corps / Support Force Commander (Grade SVI Officer)
  • Assistant Regional Commander (Grade VI Officer)
  • Company Commander (Grade SV Officer)
  • Deputy Company Commander (Grade V Officer)
  • Platoon Commander (Grade IV Officer)
  • Senior Section Leader (Grade Senior III Officer)
  • Section Leader (Grade III Officer)
  • Deputy Section Leader (Grade II Officer)
  • Senior Member (Grade Senior I Officer)
  • Member (Grade I Officer)
  • Cadet / Senior Cadet / Deputy Cadet Leader / Cadet Leader / Senior Cadet Leader

Facilities

  • Hong Kong Training Centre - Causeway Bay
  • Tai Tan Camp - Sai Kung
  • Yuen Tun Camp - Tsuen Wan

Mountain Search and Rescue Company

The Mountain Search and Rescue Company (民安隊山嶺搜救中隊) or CAS MSaR consists of two search and rescue teams specializing in mountain terrain within Hong Kong (mainly in the New Territories). MSaR team is made up of auxiliary members of CAS. Formed in 1967, it has a combined total of 246 members. MSaR works with Hong Kong Fire Services and Government Flying Service
Government Flying Service (Hong Kong)
The Government Flying Service is a disciplined unit of the Government of Hong Kong. It was established on 1 April 1993, when Hong Kong was under British rule. It then took over all the non-military operations of the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force , which was an auxiliary unit of the United...

 (air support) when deployed to incidents.

Crest

The current crest of the force was adopted in 1997 to replace most of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 colonial symbols:
  • St Edward's Crown replace with the Bauhinia
    Bauhinia
    Bauhinia is a genus of more than 200 species of flowering plants in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae of the large flowering plant family Fabaceae, with a pantropical distribution. The genus was named after the Bauhin brothers, Swiss-French botanists....

    , Hong Kong's regional emblem
  • Crest's unilingual wording CAS Hong Kong replaced with the bilingual "香港 - 民安隊 Civil Aid Service - Hong Kong"


Source: http://flagspot.net/flags/hk_cas.html

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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