INSARAG IEC/R Leadership Course 2023 – The Netherlands

The INSARAG IEC/R Leadership course was held in Vooburg, the Netherlands, from 5 to 8 June 2023, hosted by the USAR NL. Team. This was the fourth course, followed by 2020 in Oman, 2014 in Abu Dhabi, and 2012 in Winchester, UK. The purpose of the course is to share an extensive knowledge of IEC/R for those who intend to take roles of leadership positions, including Team Leader and Deputy Team Leader of Classifiers, Mentors, and the INSARAG Secretariat.
The course was facilitated by INSARAG Training Working Group members with experts, and together, 19 participants attended the course from all over the world.
The four-day course focused on the Roles and Responsibilities of each leadership position, Negotiation Skills, Design of Exercise, Checklist and POE, Exercise Site Analysis, and so on by exchanging knowledge and experience of participants and facilitators.


Thank you very much to the participants, the facilitators, and especially to the USAR.NL for hosting the course.

IRNAP Course for TSG/TRG Experts

The first IRNAP course for Technical Support Group (TSG) and Technical Recognition Group (TRG) experts was held from 12 to 15 April and hosted 19 participating experts from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru, 5 facilitators from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, observers from Brazil and BHA/USAID and is supported by the INSARAG Secretariat. This was organized by INSARAG’s Americas Regional Group and sponsored by the Secretariat of Risk Management of Ecuador, and carried out at the Training and Specialization Center of Ambato’s Fire Department. This course is the product of several years of hard work and revision and is expected to be replicated in other regions to strengthen their TSG/TRG rosters.

National USAR Coordination Course-Panama

An USAR National Coordination Course was held in Panama from 6 to 10 March. This course aims to strengthen the National USAR system in terms of coordination between the National Civil Protection System and the National USAR response groups. A total of 33 participants from the National Civil Protection System (SINAPROC), the Panamanian Red Cross, the Panamanian Fire Brigade, the Social Security Fund and the National Border Service (SENAFRONT) attended the course.

URGENT – Notice to all USAR teams that responded to Türkiye and Syria Earthquakes – Reports of Asbestos Contamination

To all USAR Team Leaders and Representatives,

This message from the INSARAG Secretariat on behalf of NED-01 USAR.NL is to notify you of reported asbestos contamination found on the equipment of the NED-01 team.

NED-01, in their standard post-mission procedures during and after their deployment to Antakaya, Turkiye, have tested and sampled their equipment, clothing, and tents for asbestos contamination. The samples showed moderate decontamination with actinolite. On some samples, slight decontamination with chrysotile was also detected.

NED-01 will decontaminate the equipment involved under professional supervision. They will also notify the current users of their base of operations, which was handed over to Oxfam-Novib for the broader humanitarian relief effort. NED-01 was, due to the lack of raw water, not able to fully fulfil its regular decontamination procedures in the first days of its mission. Hence the contamination was able to spread further than normal.

As it cannot be ruled out that other teams have experienced the same.

The INSARAG Secretariat urges all teams to thoroughly conduct post-mission procedures and consider testing for asbestos contamination if this is not already part of your standard protocol. Decontamination should be carried out under professional supervision.