Chengdu/Rotterdam – At an official signing ceremony at the Chengdu City Hall in China, the Municipality of Chengdu and VSTEP signed a Letter of Intent to build an extensive emergency response training system using the RescueSim virtual training platform. The agreement follows a successful 18 month feasibility study by the Chengdu Office of Emergency Management and VSTEP and its partners.
The Letter of Intent was signed by vice Secretary General of Chengdu, Wang Pingjing and VSTEP CEO Cristijn Sarvaas, in the presence of vice Mayor Ms. Zhao Xiaowei of Chengdu and Mr Willem van Ee, Charge d‘Affaire of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Beijing. The agreement consolidates the cooperation and focuses on introducing innovative virtual emergency response training systems to the emergency services and other relevant authorities and organizations in the Chengdu Municipality to improve the preparedness of the emergency services to respond effectively during major incidents.
The Municipality of Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province and has a population of over 12 million. Lying in the heart of an active earthquake zone, the Chengdu has one of the most experienced and well-organized emergency response organizations in China. Adding the RescueSim virtual platform to its arsenal of training tools, Chengdu will further strengthen its position as the leading high tech emergency management and response center in China.
VSTEP CEO Cristijn Sarvaas: “We are deeply honored to be able to work for the city of Chengdu on this innovative project. Chengdu has a highly developed emergency response system that can serve as a basis for other Chinese cities and provinces. We intend to use Chengdu as our R&D Centre in China to further develop RescueSim to meet the complex needs of the Chinese emergency response training organizations.”
RescueSim is the leading virtual emergency response training software available today. It helps emergency response teams prepare for any thinkable incident by letting them train in a realistic virtual environment, without the dangers, costs and time associated with traditional practical training. VSTEP has partnered with Professor Henk van Zuylen of the Delft University of Technology and Dr Yusen Chen of CYStone. The feasibility study conducted during the past 18 months was co-financed by the Municipality of Chengdu and the Netherlands’ Government.
In 2008, Sichuan was struck by one of the heaviest earthquakes in Chinese history with its centre a few kilometers from Chengdu, resulting in great loss of life and infrastructural damage. In addition to natural disasters, Chengdu, like any major city, is confronted with major industrial, inner-city and transportation incidents every day. To deal with these incidents, the city’s emergency response organization has embarked on an ambitious program to train the emergency services to operate effectively during different types of incidents.
With hundreds of emergency response workers in Chengdu in the local police, fire fighting department and hospitals, effective practical training is difficult, time consuming and expensive to organize. The Municipality of Chengdu turned to the Dutch consortium, to investigate the opportunities of integrating innovative virtual training with traffic simulation systems. The Chengdu Emergency Management System will incorporate the proven emergency response training platform RescueSim and be used as a training and decision support tool by both the municipal authorities and emergency services to efficiently and effectively manage emergencies of different types, both natural disasters and man-made emergencies.
For more information, visit www.rescuesim.com or contact VSTEP at info@rescuesim.com
About VSTEP VSTEP is a leading International developer of simulators and virtual training software. VSTEP creates 3D virtual training applications and simulators that allow people to build their skills in a practical and cost effective way: RescueSim - Emergency Response Training is single and multi agency training software that prepares safety and security professionals for real-life incidents and allows them to experience and train incidents in a safe virtual 3D environment. RescueSim includes specialized modules for Fire & Rescue services, as well as Industrial, Port, Airport and Offshore Incident Management. www.vstepsimulation.com, www.rescuesim.com.
About Prof. Henk v. Zuylen He is emeritus professor at Delft University of Technology, specialized in dynamic management of traffic. Henk van Zuylen is well known as researcher and advisor on traffic control and on ways to deal with congestion. He is continuing his work as independent consultant and he is also visiting professor at 5 universities in China.
About CYStone CYStone is a start-up company, providing personal consulting and advice in traffic and transportation, with the emphasis on research, development and application of new techniques, products and services. CYStone provides tailor made market research and project consultancy for public organizations and private companies.
For more information, contact: Frank Dolmans, Chief Marketing Officer VSTEP Phone: +31-10-2014520 Email: frank@vstep.nl