International Search and Rescue Response

 The Meeting of International Search and Rescue (SAR) Team Leaders on Lessons Learnt and Follow up to the 1999 Turkey and Taiwan Earthquakes, hosted by the Government of Germany was held under the auspices of the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), from 9 - 12 December in Neuhausen, Germany, 9 - 12 December 1999. The Meeting was co-chaired by Mr. Gerhard Putman-Cramer, Deputy Director of OCHA Geneva and Chief, Disaster Response Branch, and Mr. Dietrich Läpke, Deputy Director, German Federal Agency for Technical Relief, Bundesanstalt Technisches Hilfswerk (THW). Mr. Toni Frisch, Deputy Director, Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development and Chairman of INSARAG, co chaired the closing session.

The meeting was attended by 119 participants from 36 countries and two UN agencies, representing many of the international SAR teams who had responded during the aftermath of recent major earthquakes in Turkey and China to assist in urban search and rescue and disaster relief operations, as well as representatives of the national emergency management agencies of the affected countries. For many of the participants, the meeting provided an introduction to the INSARAG network of international emergency management practitioners, its philosophy and the practical guidelines developed by its members for urban search and rescue operations in an international setting. Particular mention was made of the INSARAG Protocols for Assisting and Affected Countries, the On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC), the recently approved the International Search and Rescue Response (ISARR) Guidelines, the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) Team and the OCHA Directory of International Search and Rescue Teams.

The meeting focussed on presentations by the representatives of the affected countries, providing an overview of the management of the emergencies and particularly the coordination of the large number of international teams who had deployed to assist with urban search and rescue operations. In addition, for each emergency the leaders from a selection of the teams deployed presented a report on the team's mobilization, deployment, operations on site, conclusions and lessons learnt. OCHA provided an summary report of the UNDAC Team Mission deployed in response to each of the emergencies.