INSARAG Urban Search and Rescue Coordination Training Course

Course overview

Major earthquakes and structural collapses bring together national authorities, international USAR teams, military assets, humanitarian clusters, and technical specialists under severe time pressure. Without a common coordination method, teams can duplicate assessments, self-deploy to unsuitable worksites, miss priority rescue opportunities, or create avoidable burdens for the Local Emergency Management Authority (LEMA). This course prepares experienced responders to coordinate urban search and rescue operations using the operational structures, terminology, and decision processes set out in the INSARAG Guidelines.

Participants work through the full coordination cycle: preparedness, mobilisation, reception, on-site coordination, worksite prioritisation, sector management, information management, demobilisation, and transition to recovery actors. They learn to establish and operate a Reception/Departure Centre (RDC), On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC), and USAR Coordination Cell (UCC); analyse team capability and worksite data; brief LEMA; apply INSARAG marking and reporting conventions; and allocate teams against life-saving priorities. The course also examines the relationship between INSARAG coordination, UNDAC, OCHA's Virtual OSOCC, and national incident-management arrangements.

Teaching combines instructor-led technical briefings with a progressive earthquake-response simulation. Participants use realistic arrival manifests, reconnaissance reports, worksite information, and team capability profiles to make coordination decisions under changing conditions. By the final day, each participant produces an INSARAG-aligned USAR coordination action pack containing an RDC/OSOCC setup plan, coordination meeting agenda, worksite prioritisation matrix, information-management products, and a demobilisation handover plan.

The course is designed for personnel who already work in emergency management, USAR, disaster-response coordination, or humanitarian operations and who need to lead or support multi-team urban search and rescue coordination.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Apply the INSARAG Guidelines to structure a coordinated international USAR response from mobilisation through demobilisation
• Establish an RDC, OSOCC, and UCC with defined functions, staffing roles, information flows, and reporting routines
• Assess incoming USAR team capabilities using INSARAG classification, self-sufficiency, and deployment information
• Prioritise and allocate worksites using a life-saving decision matrix, sectorisation data, and operational constraints
• Produce INSARAG-aligned situation reports, coordination meeting outputs, and worksite allocation records
• Conduct coordination briefings with LEMA, UNDAC, USAR team leaders, and humanitarian partners using agreed terminology
• Use INSARAG marking, reconnaissance, and operational reporting conventions to maintain a shared operating picture
• Develop a demobilisation and handover plan that transfers outstanding rescue, information, and coordination tasks

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• USAR Team Leaders — who must deploy teams safely and accept tasking within an international coordination structure
• Emergency Operations Centre Managers — who coordinate national and international response assets during major incidents
• Civil Protection Officers — who support LEMA in receiving, tasking, and managing international rescue assistance
• UNDAC and humanitarian coordination personnel — who connect USAR operations with wider humanitarian coordination arrangements
• Fire and Rescue Service Commanders — who lead technical rescue resources during collapsed-structure incidents
• Disaster Management Programme Managers — who design national preparedness arrangements for international USAR assistance

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical familiarity with emergency-response command structures, multi-agency coordination, or urban search and rescue operations. They should understand basic incident terminology, the roles of national authorities and responding agencies, and the operational realities of a disaster deployment. Prior experience as a USAR team member, emergency operations centre officer, civil protection practitioner, or humanitarian coordinator is strongly recommended. Participants should be able to read operational maps and complete structured response forms. No engineering qualification, INSARAG External Classification assessor status, specialist rescue certification, or prior use of Virtual OSOCC is required.

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor-led sessions to explain INSARAG structures and decision rules, followed by facilitated application in a developing earthquake scenario. Participants interpret arrival data, team manifests, reconnaissance reports, maps, and worksite updates; then operate in rotating RDC, OSOCC, UCC, LEMA liaison, and USAR team-leader roles. Group decisions are tested through timed coordination meetings and injects that change resource availability and priorities. A final application-planning workshop converts simulation outputs into workplace-ready coordination procedures and templates.

Course outline

Day 1: INSARAG coordination architecture and preparedness

• INSARAG Guidelines, methodology, and international USAR coordination principles
• Roles of LEMA, USAR teams, UNDAC, OCHA, and humanitarian coordination mechanisms
• INSARAG preparedness cycle and national host-nation support arrangements
• INSARAG External Classification levels and team capability implications
• USAR deployment phases from alert and mobilisation to transition
• Common operational terminology, reporting lines, and coordination ethics
• Coordination planning assumptions for sudden-onset urban disasters

Workshop: Participants map the coordination architecture for a simulated earthquake-affected country and produce a host-nation support and stakeholder engagement plan.

Day 2: Reception, registration, and operational information management

• Reception/Departure Centre purpose, layout, staffing, and activation criteria
• Arrival registration and verification of USAR team self-sufficiency
• Team capability profiles, equipment declarations, and classification information
• OSOCC functions, workspace design, and information-management workflow
• Virtual OSOCC reporting, requests for assistance, and operational updates
• Situation reporting formats, incident logs, and decision-record discipline
• Coordination meeting cycles and action-tracking mechanisms

Workshop: Working from incoming flight, border, and team-manifest data, participants establish an RDC process and produce a team registration board, capability summary, and initial OSOCC briefing.

Day 3: Assessment, sectorisation, and worksite prioritisation

• Rapid reconnaissance and collection of worksite intelligence
• INSARAG marking system and worksite status communication
• Sectorisation methods for dense urban collapse environments
• Worksite triage factors including survivability, access, hazards, and resource requirements
• USAR Coordination Cell tasking and worksite allocation procedures
• Matching technical, medium, and heavy team capabilities to operational demand
• Safety escalation, reassessment triggers, and suspension-of-operations decisions

Workshop: Participants analyse reconnaissance and worksite reports to create a sector map, ranked worksite prioritisation matrix, and initial team tasking plan.

Day 4: Multi-agency coordination and operational control

• LEMA liaison and maintaining national ownership of response priorities
• OSOCC-UCC interface and division of strategic and tactical coordination responsibilities
• Coordination with medical, logistics, protection, shelter, and emergency telecommunications actors
• Resource request validation and management of surge support
• Operational briefings, tasking meetings, and shift handover protocols
• Managing conflicting information, duplicate tasking, and uncoordinated arrivals
• Media, community information, and ethical communication in rescue operations

Workshop: In a live coordination simulation, participants chair an OSOCC-UCC meeting, resolve competing task requests, and issue an updated action plan to LEMA and team leaders.

Day 5: Demobilisation, transition, and coordination action planning

• Demobilisation criteria and phased release of international USAR capacity
• RDC departure procedures, movement coordination, and accountability closure
• Handover of active worksites and outstanding rescue requirements
• Transition from life-saving operations to recovery and national service delivery
• After-action review methods and lessons-capture templates
• INSARAG-aligned coordination action pack development
• Individual workplace implementation planning and capability-gap assessment

Workshop: Participants complete a demobilisation and handover plan, then assemble and present their INSARAG-aligned USAR coordination action pack for peer and instructor review.

Tools & standards covered

INSARAG Guidelines, INSARAG External Classification, UN OCHA Virtual OSOCC, KoboToolbox

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions