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Osnabrück/Geneva, 25 Novem­ber 2021 - As the first inter­na­tional search and rescue team of the cate­gory “Light”, the German relief organ­i­sa­tion @fire was clas­si­fied by the United Nations (UN) in the past few days. For this purpose, a 20-member rescue team went through a large-scale inter­na­tional exer­cise last­ing several days for a rescue oper­a­tion after earth­quakes in Switzerland.

A devas­tat­ing 7.1 magni­tude earth­quake shook the Repub­lic of Jureneva at 9:36 am local time on Sunday morn­ing. The local govern­ment esti­mates at least 2,300 injured and 1,000 dead. Around 1,230 people are miss­ing in the more than 1,500 collapsed build­ings. This is the scenario of the exer­cise “INSIEME 21” of the UN’s Inter­na­tional Search and Rescue Advi­sory Group (INSARAG).

After an initial situ­a­tion assess­ment by the @fire home staff, the @fire rescue team is alerted and mobilised on Sunday. The special­ists for biolog­i­cal and tech­ni­cal detec­tion as well as for tech­ni­cal rescue, a construc­tion consul­tant, three rescue dogs, logis­ti­cians and other disas­ter special­ists gather for the final equip­ment check and medical exam­i­na­tions at the rescue centre in Wald­kirch (BW). On Monday morn­ing, the team finally moves to the assumed area of oper­a­tion, a train­ing area of the Swiss army in Epeisses near Geneva (Switzer­land). Once there, the first task is to start up the Reception/Departure Centre (RDC), through which all arriv­ing rescue teams are received and regis­tered. At the same time, a small tent city will be set up as a base of oper­a­tions for the @fire team. The base serves as a self-suffi­cient accom­mo­da­tion and oper­a­tion centre from which the indi­vid­ual oper­a­tion sites are approached.

After a first recon­nais­sance of the area of oper­a­tion, the first oper­a­tion site is still to be dealt with on Monday evening. With the rescue dogs as well as tech­ni­cal locat­ing equip­ment, a miss­ing person in a collapsed house has to be located and freed by means of a break­through. Late into the night, the disas­ter relief work­ers are busy with the rescue before return­ing to their Base of Oper­a­tions for a short night’s rest.

Further response sites at vari­ous collapsed build­ings will follow on Tues­day and during the night of Wednes­day. More miss­ing persons have to be found and rescued and given first aid by means of verti­cal and hori­zon­tal break­throughs through steel-rein­forced concrete and by using pneu­matic lift­ing bags, a winch or rope tech­nol­ogy. Build­ing outrig­gers and work­ing with a crane are also among the tasks.

More than 30 asses­sors from 23 coun­tries and inter­na­tional observers eval­u­ate the disas­ter relief work­ers accord­ing to the INSARAG Guide­lines. In addi­tion to the first-time clas­si­fi­ca­tion of @fire as a Light Team, the Heavy Team “Swiss Rescue” from Switzer­land and the Medium Team “PUI” from France will also be recer­ti­fied during INSIEME21.

After the success­ful comple­tion of the rescue work on Wednes­day morn­ing, the INSARAG repre­sen­ta­tives were finally able to present the @fire forces with the offi­cial certifi­cate. This makes the aid organ­i­sa­tion @fire the 58th clas­si­fied USAR team and the first search and rescue team in the world to go through the clas­si­fi­ca­tion as a light team.

“We started work­ing on the topic of USAR almost 16 years ago. With mile­stones in Haiti, Nepal and Beirut. We have not only become a member of the inter­na­tional USAR commu­nity, but have also set the tone with the devel­op­ment of a Light USAR team,” says @fire chair­man Jan Südmersen proudly. “As a light team, we are the rapid spear­head of inter­na­tional relief after devas­tat­ing natural disasters.”

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Back­ground:

As a United Nations organ­i­sa­tion, the Inter­na­tional Search and Rescue Advi­sory Group (INSARAG) coor­di­nates and stan­dard­ises inter­na­tional coop­er­a­tion in the field of Urban Search and Rescue (USAR), i.e. search and rescue after natural disas­ters such as earth­quakes. All rescue teams must undergo INSARAG Exter­nal Clas­si­fi­ca­tion (IEC) and regu­lar Reclas­si­fi­ca­tions (IER) in one of the three clas­si­fi­ca­tion levels - light, medium or heavy USAR team. In Germany, the German Federal Agency for Tech­ni­cal Relief (THW) has so far been clas­si­fied as a Heavy Team and the aid organ­i­sa­tion “ISAR Germany” as a Medium Team. The clas­si­fi­ca­tion level “light” was devel­oped with the find­ings of the rescue oper­a­tion after the earth­quake in Nepal in 2015 within INSARAG with the coop­er­a­tion of @fire.

A Light Team consists of at least 17 disas­ter relief work­ers, a Medium Team requires at least 40 and a Heavy Team at least 59. Accord­ing to INSARAG guide­lines, a Light USAR team can carry out search and rescue oper­a­tions in collapsed build­ings made of wood and unre­in­forced masonry, as well as in build­ings rein­forced with steel rein­force­ment. It must also be able to lift, roll, push or hoist debris using a crane, winch or hoist. A light USAR team must be able to carry out 12-hour oper­a­tions at one site over five days. 

“Rapid spear­head of inter­na­tional aid after natural disasters”

German NGO @fire clas­si­fied as the world’s first Light USAR team in the earth­quake rescue of the United Nations

Osnabrück/Geneva, Novem­ber 25, 2021 – Over the last few days, the German NGO @fire got clas­si­fied by the United Nations as the first inter­na­tional search and rescue team in the cate­gory “Light”. For several days, a 20-member rescue team got through a major exer­cise in Switzerland.

On Sunday at 9:36 a.m. local time, a devas­tat­ing earth­quake of magni­tude 7.1 shook the Repub­lic of Jureneva. The local govern­ment esti­mates at least 2,300 injured and 1,000 dead. Around 1,300 people are getting missed in the more than 1,500 collapsed build­ings. This is the scenario of the exer­cise “INSIEME 21” of the Inter­na­tional Search and Rescue Advi­sory Group (INSARAG) of the UN.

After an initial assess­ment of the situ­a­tion by the @fire home staff, the @fire rescue team will be alerted and mobi­lized on Sunday. The special­ists for biolog­i­cal and tech­ni­cal locat­ing as well as for tech­ni­cal rescue, a construc­tion consul­tant, three rescue dogs, logis­ti­cians, and other disas­ter special­ists, gather for the final equip­ment and medical check in the Wald­kirch Rescue Centre (BW).

On Monday morn­ing, the team finally moves to the assumed area of oper­a­tion, a train­ing area of the Swiss Army in Epeisses near Geneva (Switzer­land). Once there, the first step is putting the Recep­tion and Depar­ture Centre (RDC) into oper­a­tion through which all arriv­ing rescue teams are received and regis­tered. At the same time, a small tent city is getting set up as the Base of Oper­a­tions for the @fire team. This base serves as self-suffi­cient accom­mo­da­tion and Oper­a­tions Centre from which the indi­vid­ual work­sites are getting approached.

After an initial explo­ration of the area of oper­a­tion, the team has to work through the first work­site on Monday evening. With the rescue dogs and tech­ni­cal locat­ing devices, a person must be located in a collapsed house and freed employ­ing a break­through. Until late at night, the disas­ter relief work­ers are busy rescu­ing before return­ing to their Base of Oper­a­tion for a short night’s sleep.

Further work­sites at vari­ous collapsed build­ings will follow on Tues­day and Tues­day night. In addi­tion, more miss­ing persons should be found and rescued employ­ing verti­cal and hori­zon­tal break­throughs through steel-weighted concrete as well as rescued using pneu­matic lift­ing bags, a winch, and rope tech­nol­ogy. Also, the construc­tion of support and the coop­er­a­tion with a crane is one of the executed tasks.

More than 30 clas­si­fiers from 23 coun­tries and inter­na­tional observers eval­u­ate the disas­ter relief work­ers based on the require­ments of the INSARAG Guide­lines. In addi­tion to the first- time clas­si­fi­ca­tion of @fire as a Light team, the Heavy team “Swiss Rescue” from Switzer­land and the Medium team “PUI” from France are getting recer­ti­fied as part of INSIEME 21.

After the success­ful comple­tion of the rescue work on Wednes­day morn­ing, the INSARAG repre­sen­ta­tives were able to hand over the offi­cial certifi­cate to the @fire team. The aid orga­ni­za­tion @fire is thus the first search and rescue team world­wide which got clas­si­fied as a Light USAR team.

“Almost 16 years ago, we started to deal with the topic of USAR. With mile­stones in Haiti, Nepal, and Beirut. We have not only become a member of the inter­na­tional USAR commu­nity but have also set the tone with the devel­op­ment of a Light USAR team”, says @fire pres­i­dent Jan Südmersen proudly. “As a Light team, we are the rapid spear­head of inter­na­tional aid after devas­tat­ing natural disasters.”

--------------

Back­ground:

As an orga­ni­za­tion of the United Nations, the Inter­na­tional Search and Rescue Advi­sory Group (INSARAG) coor­di­nates and stan­dard­izes inter­na­tional coop­er­a­tion in the field of Urban Search and Rescue (USAR), i.e., the search and rescue after natural disas­ters such as earth­quakes. All rescue teams must comply with an Exter­nal Clas­si­fi­ca­tion (IEC) and regu­lar Reclas­si­fi­ca­tions (IER) in one of the three clas­si­fi­ca­tion levels – Light, Medium, or Heavy USAR team. In Germany, the Federal Agency for Tech­ni­cal Relief (THW) is clas­si­fied as a team at heavy level, and the aid orga­ni­za­tion “ISAR Germany” is clas­si­fied as a team at medium level so far. The clas­si­fi­ca­tion level “Light” was devel­oped based on the find­ings of the rescue oper­a­tions after the Nepal Earth­quakes in 2015 within in the INSARAG in collab­o­ra­tion with @fire.

The mini­mum number of deployed person­nel required for a Light Team is 17, a Medium Team is 40 while a Heavy Team is 59. Accord­ing to the INSARAG Guide­lines a Light USAR Team can conduct search and rescue oper­a­tions in collapsed or failed struc­tures of wood and unre­in­forced masonry construc­tion, includ­ing struc­tures rein­forced with steel mesh. They must also conduct rigging and lift­ing oper­a­tions. A Light USAR Team is required to have the capac­ity to work at a single work­site and must be adequatly stuffed to allow for 12-hour oper­a­tions at one site for up to five days.

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