International Search and Rescue Advisory Group

UN OCHA advisory group INSARAGInternational Search and Rescue Advisory GroupAgency overviewAgency executiveSebastian Rhodes Stampa, Secretary of INSARAGParent agencyUNOCHAWebsitewww.insarag.org The International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) is a United Nations advisory body established in 1991 focused on Urban Search and Rescue (USAR). It develops standards, classifications, and methodologies for international coordination in the aftermath of earthquakes and structural collapses. The INSARAG Secretariat is located in the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. History German aid organization "@fire" classified by INSARAG as the world's first "USAR Light" earthquake rescue team INSARAG was established in 1991 in response to intense earthquake disasters, including the 1985 Mexico City earthquake and the 1988 Spitak earthquake in Armenia. In 2002, the United Nations General Assembly endorsed INSARAG’s role through Resolution 57/150, which called for "strengthening the effectiveness and coordination of international USAR assistance". In 2010, participants at the Global Meeting in Kobe, J