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INSARAG Principles

Vision and Role​

INSARAG's vision is to save lives by promoting efficiency, enhanced quality, and coordination amongst national and international USAR teams based on adherence to common guidelines and methodologies.

INSARAG's role is to prepare for, mobilise and coordinate effective and principled international USAR assistance in support of an affected country in collapsed-structure emergencies and to support capacity-building at the international, regional, sub-regional and national level. INSARAG does this by:

  • Developing and promoting common standards for USAR assistance, coordination methodologies and tools, and mobilisation and information exchange protocols between relevant stakeholders.
  • Promoting cooperation and experience-sharing amongst, and in partnership with, member states, NGOs, and national, regional and international partners.

The INSARAG Hyogo Declaration of 2010, on the “Recognition and strengthening of international urban search and rescue operational standards,” adopted in the first INSARAG Global Meeting, gave INSARAG a renewed impetus and guidance for its work, and emphasised the need for strengthening of national response capacities and recommended that building national, local and community capacity is critical for effective response.

This was followed in by the INSARAG Aby Dhabi Declaration of 2015, on “Strengthening Preparedness and Response Standards of National and International Urban Search and Rescue Operations,” endorsed the revised and updated the INSARAG Guidelines 2015. It called upon all USAR teams and their respective institutions responding internationally to earthquakes to make full use of and adhere to the field coordination procedures.

In 2021 the INSARAG Warsaw Declaration on Strengthening Quality, Predictability, Speed, and Flexibility in Support of National and Local Urban Search and Rescue Capacities was endorsed during the virtual Global Meeting hosted by the Polish State Fire Brigade. This meeting was a virtual one due to the global pandemic situation. It celebrated the 30-year existence of the global network and called upon the network to strengthen the quality and speed of USAR responses, make it more flexible and predictable.

Mandate of INSARAG​

INSARAG is mandated by the ISG to:

  • Operate in accordance with the Humanitarian Principles, which form the core of humanitarian action.
  • Render emergency preparedness and response activities more effective and thereby save more lives, reduce suffering and minimise adverse consequences.
  • Improve efficiency in cooperation among international USAR teams working in collapsed structures at a disaster site, including by managing the IEC/R process.
  • Promote the strengthening of national USAR capacities and activities designed to improve search-and-rescue preparedness in disaster-prone countries, thereby prioritising developing countries, including by assisting member states in setting up national USAR team classification processes.
  • Develop internationally accepted procedures and systems for sustained cooperation between national USAR teams operating on the international level.
  • Develop USAR procedures, guidelines and best practices, and strengthen cooperation between interested organisations during the emergency relief phase.

Values, Operational norms and Humanitarian principles​

INSARAG operates in accordance with the Humanitarian Principles, which form the core of humanitarian action.

Adherence to common standards and methodology: Members of INSARAG commit to adhere to the INSARAG Guidelines and methodology as globally accepted and independently verifiable minimum operational standard and procedures, based upon expert knowledge and evidence-based experience. The INSARAG network continues to develop these standards and procedures though shared and continued learning.

Inclusiveness: INSARAG brings together governments, governmental organisations, NGOs and disaster preparedness and response professionals. INSARAG particularly encourages disaster-prone countries to join the network, as well as any country or organisation with USAR response capacity. INSARAG emphasises the importance of utilizing a gender responsive approach during and after rescue operations.

Professionalism: INSARAG promotes responsible, ethical and professional standards amongst USAR teams and stakeholders.

Respect for diversity: INSARAG acknowledges and respects USAR team’s varied operational procedures in achieving common objectives, while disseminating principles and minimum standards agreed upon by the INSARAG network. It also recognises “Strengthening of the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations” that diversity of humanitarian staff brings value to humanitarian work and betters understanding of developing countries’ contexts. INSARAG is also dedicated to mainstreaming a gender perspective into humanitarian assistance and integrating this perspective into all disaster rescue and risk reduction efforts, including by addressing the specific needs, and promoting the priorities and capacities of women, girls, men and boys in a comprehensive and consistent manner.

Cultural sensitivity: INSARAG promotes awareness and respect by international USAR teams of cultural differences so that international USAR teams can cooperate more effectively with national and international actors.

Needs-driven: Mobilisation and deployment of international USAR teams is only supported when the affected country’s capacities are overwhelmed by the impact of a collapsed-structure emergency and national authorities agree to accept international assistance. Moreover, the type of international assistance rendered is based on the needs of the affected country and not driven by the availability of resources.

Humanitarian Principles: Reaffirming the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence in the provision of humanitarian assistance, and reaffirming also the need for all actors engaged in the provision of humanitarian assistance in situations of complex emergencies and natural disasters to promote and fully respect these principles.

Coordination: INSARAG promotes internationally agreed coordination structures managed and advocated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), promotes coordination of preparedness and capacity building activities, and, throughout an operation, assists member states and affected countries in coordinating the emergency response.

Predictability: INSARAG promotes predictability in search and rescue response operations, both in terms of response capacities available when they are needed, as well as in terms of coordination platforms put in place to ensure a most efficient use of available assets in relation to the identified humanitarian needs.