Author: Digital Services

SIMEX 2022 held by Swiss Government

The Swiss government was pleased to host the INSARAG Earthquake Simulation Exercise 2022 (“SIMEX22”). The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense, had hosted this event in Kriens, Switzerland, from June 20-24, 2022. The specific objective of “SIMEX22” was to train and practice INSARAG methods for disaster response, which provided a unique opportunity for national and international responders to participate in a realistic exercise where disaster victims had to fight for survival under rubble. 13 USAR Teams from 14 countries participated: Armenian, Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Nederlands, Qatar, Spain, Turkey, UK, USA and Switzerland.

IRNAP Since 2017

Since 2015, the INSARAG Guidelines explicitly encourage member states to establish a national accreditation process that is developed, adapted, and framed in the member state’s own reality and recommends using the INSARAG Guidelines as reference. In fact, for several years a growing number of member states have been developing their national process using the INSARAG Guidelines as a reference. In addition, the 2020 INSARAG Guidelines encourage the member states to go even a step further by requesting the INSARAG Recognized National Accreditation Process (IRNAP), which certifies that the USAR system in the member state is completely in accordance with the INSARAG Guidelines methodology.

Annex a: IRNAP Guidance Note 2022 – Link

The member states that are recognized since 2017 are listed below:

CountryIRNAP YEARRegion
France 2017AEME
Türkiye2017AEME
Colombia2018Americas
Guatemala2018Americas
Chile2022Americas
Cyprus2022AEME
Singapore2022AP
Argentina 2023AEME
Ecuador2023Americas
China2025AP
Countries with an ongoing IRNAP ProcessRegion
Panama
Americas
HondurasAmericas
GuatemalaAmericas