Mexico
is celebrating rescuers today. Those brave women and men who risk their lives to save the victims of natural disasters and accidents.
Today, the Navy Ministry (Semar) announced that rescue dog Frida is retiring after several years of service.
The Labrador retriever became a symbol of hope after a devastating earthquake struck Mexico City and other states on September 19, 2017 .
According to the Semar , Frida is 9 years old and has participated in 53 rescue missions in collapsed buildings and has rescued 12 people alive.
Frida
also participated in international missions, for example, in Haiti in 2010 ; Guatemala in 2012 , and Ecuador in 2016 .
During the ceremony to commemorate rescuers, Frida was awarded the for her rescue labor throughout the years.
Why do we celebrate rescuers today?
On 24 June 1859, during the War of Italian Unification, Franco-Sardinian forces clashed with Austrian troops near the town of Solferino in northern Italy . On that day, a Swiss businessman Henry Dunant was in the area to meet Napoleon III on a business matter. On the evening of the battle, Dunant arrived in the village of Castiglione, where more than 9,000 wounded had taken refuge. Thousands lay unattended in the main church. For several days, Dunant and the local women gave them water, washed and dressed their wounds and handed out tobacco, tea, and fruit. Dunant remained in Castiglione until 27 June and then set out again, returning to Geneva on 11 July. He was beset by financial difficulties, but could not forget what he had seen, and in 1862 he published a work entitled A Memory of Solferino. In this book, he described the battle and the wounded, concluding with a question: "Would it not be possible, in time of peace and quiet, to form relief societies for the purpose of having care given to the wounded in wartime by zealous, devoted and thoroughly qualified volunteers?" It was this question that led to the founding of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent.
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