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Contact Chairman summary of the INSARAG Americas Regional Group meeting, 2007 (Dominican Republic) – Spanish
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This exercise was held in Istanbul, Turkey from 9 to 13 May 2016. This event was supported by the Government of Turkey.
The purpose of the exercise was to practice international coordination methodology in accordance with the INSARAG Guidelines, with a focus on cooperation between national and international disaster managers and response actors as well as joint operations planning between Local Emergency Management Authorities (LEMA) and the international On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC). This exercise saw active involvement of international urban search and rescue (USAR) teams from the region responding and working alongside fellow national USAR members, and in parallel, there was engagement of the national disaster management team working alongside the United Nations in-country response mechanisms during such major disasters.
The INSARAG Asia-Pacific Region Earthquake Response Exercise 2016 was held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from 25 to 29 July 2016.
This exercise was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 22 to 26 June 2015. This event was jointly supported by the Governments of China and the United States.
The purpose of the exercise is to practice international coordination methodology in accordance with the INSARAG Guidelines, with a focus on cooperation between national and international disaster managers and response actors as well as joint operations planning between Local Emergency Management Authorities (LEMA) and the international On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC). This exercise will see active involvement of international urban search and rescue (USAR) teams from the region responding and working alongside fellow national USAR members, and in parallel, there will be engagement of the national disaster management team working alongside the United Nations in-country response mechanisms during such major disasters.
The INSARAG Asia Pacific Regional Earthquake Response Exercise 2014 was co-hosted by China Earthquake Administration together with the INSARAG Secretariat (UN OCHA’s Field Coordination Support Section) and jointly supported by the Governments of China and the United States. Targeted participants to this Exercise are Local Emergency Management Authority (LEMA), USAR experts from Asia Pacific countries, international and regional organizations from 25 to 31 August 2014
The INSARAG Asia Pacific Region Urban Search and Rescue Earthquake Response Exercise was held in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, from 07 to 09 November 2013.
The purpose of the exercise is to practice international coordination methodology in accordance with the INSARAG Guidelines, with a focus on cooperation between national and international disaster managers and response actors as well as joint operations planning between Local Emergency Management Authorities (LEMA) and the international On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC). This exercise, based on the scenario of a possible major earthquake occurring in India, will see active involvement of international urban search and rescue (USAR) teams from the region responding and working alongside fellow national USAR members, and in parallel, there will be engagement of the national disaster management team working alongside the United Nations in-country response mechanisms during such major disasters.
An Urban Search and Rescue Exercise was held in Pstrąże, Poland from 23 to 26 April 2013.
The purpose of the exercise is to practice urban search and rescue (USAR) operations and international coordination methodology in accordance with the INSARAG Guidelines. The exercise is based on a major earthquake scenario. It provides a platform for both international and national USAR teams to work together. In parallel, it aims to practice the joint operational coordination between the Local Emergency Management Authority (LEMA) and the On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC).
The annual meeting of the INSARAG AEME Regional Group was held on 2-3 November 2016 in Amsterdam, The
Netherlands. The meeting was hosted by the Government of The Netherlands and was chaired by Mr. Carlo Post
in his capacity as AEME Regional Chair.
The meeting gathered a total of 70 participants from 30 countries and organisations as well as the Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in its capacity of INSARAG Secretariat. The meeting was supported
by Mr. Arjan Stam, Mr. Robert Merkx and Mr. Camille Michel who facilitated the group work sessions. The
countries and organizations present were represented by their INSARAG focal points or their delegated
representatives. See annex for complete list of participants.
Chairman’s summary/ Annex 1: Group work discussions/ Annex 2: Agenda
The XV Meeting of the INSARAG Americas Regional Group took place jointly with the III Consultation meeting on the emergency response cooperation mechanism of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team from 16 to 18 November 2016 in Bogotá, Colombia.
The meeting was hosted by the National Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD) of Colombia and co-organised by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) in its capacity as INSARAG Secretariat and UNDAC system manager.
The meeting gathered a total of 56 participants from 14 countries of the region, 1 regional organisation (CEPREDENAC), 2 countries from other regions, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) as well as the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in its capacity as INSARAG Secretariat. The countries and organisations were all represented by their INSARAG focal points or in delegation of the focal points, as well as with some UNDAC members and UNDAC focal points.
The chairman summary, with its annexes, including the list of participants, as well as the presentations done during the meeting can be found below.
- Ecuador earthquake 2016, experience and lessons learnt, Government of Ecuador
- Ecuador earthquake 2016, experience and lessons learnt, USAR coordination by UNDAC team
- Ecuador earthquake 2016, experience and lessons learnt, Secretariat experience
- Ecuador earthquake 2016, experience and lessons learnt, USAR response Colombia
- Ecuador earthquake 2016, experience and lessons learnt, USAR response Peru
- Ecuador earthquake 2016, experience and lessons learnt, USAR response Mexico
- Report on implementation of INSARAG regional work plan 2016, Regional Chair, Colombia
- Regional SIMEX Colombia 2016, results and achievements, Government of Colombia see also the video
- Regional SIMEX Colombia 2016, results of participant evaluation, Secretariat
- Regional SIMEX Colombia 2016, experience of EMT participation, PAHO
- Role of INSARAG focal points, Secretariat
- Proposal on international light teams 1, Chair of the LTWG
- Proposal on international light teams 2, Chair of the LTWG
- Proposal on the INSARAG external support and recognition process for national USAR team accreditation processes, Regional Chair, Colombia
- INSARAG general and working group updates, Secretariat and Chair of Training Working Groups
- Progress report on the Regional assessment of national USAR team capacities, Regional Chair, Colombia
- Proposal for INSARAG strategy 2017-2020 and regional work plan 2017, I Vice Chair, Ecuador
- Announcement of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2017 in Mexico, Government of Mexico
- Announcement of the Humanitarian Network and Partnerships Week (HNPW), OCHA/ INSARAG Secretariat
Also see here the welcome video to the meeting from the INSARAG Americas Regional Chair, Dr. Carlos Iván Márquez Pérez, National Director of the UNGRD in Colombia.
Message from: Jesper Holmer Lund
Secretary of INSARAG
and Chief FCSS, OCHA Geneva
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
The international and national urban search and rescue (USAR) community gathered for the second INSARAG global meeting and 25th anniversary of the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), from 18 to 19 October 2015, back-to-back with the three Working Groups Meetings, USAR Team Leaders Meeting and three Regional Groups Meetings on 20 October – the largest INSARAG gathering in history !
313 participants from 94 countries and organisations and more than 200 participants from the Abu Dhabi Police attended the meeting, leading to the ‘INSARAG Abu Dhabi declaration’, INSARAG’s input to the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016.
As the UN Secretary-General said in his message on this occasion, ” As INSARAG celebrates 25 years, you should all be proud of the success this community has achieved…The ability of the network to span continents and cultures is a testament to the commitment of its members and a model of best practice for the humanitarian community”
In the past week, I have received nothing but positive comments. As such, there is no doubt that we fully met our objectives for the series of INSARAG meetings. This astounding success surpassed all expectations, and I thank each and every one of you who contributed time, effort and commitment to making the week of INSARAG meetings in Abu Dhabi a historic and memorable event. Allow me to salute and thank again, all of you who made it possible.
By coming together, we have shown the humanitarian community that INSARAG remains a highly relevant network and can be called upon to deliver value added life-saving assistance based on agreed standards and will continue to improve our response to be “Fit for the Future”.
Finally, we are very grateful to the UAE, the Ministry of Interior of the UAE, for hosting this event, UN and international/regional organizations and other entities that contributed.
Please find the session presentations in the links below for the Team Leaders and Global Meetings.
Best regards,
Jesper
Global Meeting Chariman’s Summary
Abu Dhabi Declaration in English
Abu Dhabi Declaration in French
Abu Dhabi Declaration in Spanish
Abu Dhabi Declaration in Chinese
Abu Dhabi Declaration in Arabic