The suitcase is packed for the next trip to the airport - but the destination is no holiday in the sun. Emma Harrison talks to a North Yorkshire rescue worker ready to jet across the world to help people in a disaster zone

For the past ten years, Ray Gray, from Primrose Grove, Selby, has been sent all over the world at a moment's notice to help victims of a man-made or natural disaster.

He helped people in the earthquake in Colombia in January and Afghanistan in February, and was called out to Hurricane Mitch in Nicaragua last November, and the refugee camps in Rwanda. His most recent mission has been to disaster-struck Turkey, where an estimated 14,000 people were killed in the earthquake.

Ray, who is 44, has to leave his wife and two children Kelly, 24, and Stuart, 20, behind in the security of their home in Selby and travel to areas in the world where his safety cannot be guaranteed.

With a glint in his eyes, but still a definite sense of how to look after himself, Ray said: "I wasn't shot at on the last trip to Turkey which is quite unusual really. I always have to face some kind of threat."

Ray is team co-ordinator of the International Rescue Corps, a rescue disaster service run by volunteers and registered with the United Nations.

The rescue team was formed in 1981 in the aftermath of the Italian earthquake and their mission statement is to "provide a fast response search and rescue service to any country, individual or victims of disasters, natural or man-made, anywhere in the world, regardless of race or religion."

Ray works as part of a highly-trained team who are willing to travel all over the world. He says: "The team effort makes us feel protected wherever we are. There is always someone watching your back."

In his latest trip, Ray was contacted just hours after the earthquake. He said: "I was paged at about 4am to say there had been an earthquake and some casualties were expected. By morning 100 people were feared dead, but it was still not thought serious enough to send us abroad and I was put on standby."

Ray who is a full-time Unison officer in Leeds said goodbye to his family and drove to work as normal. "My car boot is always packed up with all the survival gear so that I'm ready for action at a moment's notice.

"Time is people and people trapped under crumbling buildings don't have time to wait for me to pack my bags. We were helping to rescue people within 24 hours of the quake."

Ray uses his holiday entitlement to volunteer for the trips: "My work colleagues are pretty understanding, but I've been on several rescue missions already this year."

Ray travelled to Turkey with a team of 12. In six days they survived on six hours sleep. "We worked flat out, but the adrenaline kept us going. Knowing that some people were trapped under the rubble, but still alive meant we couldn't stop."

On a particularly moving occasion Ray helped rescue a woman from her apartment block, with her family calling out words of encouragement to try and keep her alive. He said: "This was a very emotional moment for the team, we could hear a woman shouting beneath tonnes of rubble. She had been trapped in a very small place for three days.

"When we eventually got her out she barely had a scratch on her, it was a true miracle. Her husband lay dead just a few feet away."

In what he describes as the worst part of his trip, Ray and his team, had to clear two hospital buildings in the town of Duzce. He said: "It was dreadful, we didn't find one person alive. Doctors, nurses and patients had all perished."

On every mission Ray and his team live in tents and have enough rations to survive for 15 days. Ray said: "We don't want to place any burden on the host country, so we make sure we are self-sufficient."

The rescue team members are all prepared to deal with the grief and trauma of a disaster situation. "The hardest part of the job is dealing with the high emotions of the families who want to know if their loved ones are alive.

"I have been on a counselling course, to try and help prepare for the devastation, but you never know what you'll find. The team talk to each other a lot and that usually helps us to keep going.

"We cried a lot in Turkey, it's difficult not to when you're surrounded by death and devastation. On a rescue mission the team almost becomes a family, we have to be able to rely one another."

"The missions are always hard work and mentally and physically exhausting, but the reward always comes when you help to save a helpless person's life."

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