Upgrade of the Romanian USAR-01 team

ongoing

The application relates to the objectives set up in section 2 of the Call document in order to upgrade RO-USAR-01 team which consists of professionally trained search and rescue personnel, with specific equipment and proper logistical support, built to fulfil search and rescue activities and proper coordination during the emergency and to make deployable as part of the ECPP. For achieving the objective of the project, adapting the existing search and rescue team and run the classification process as a heavy USAR team, the neccessary means/goods/technical equipment will be purchased. The RO-USAR-01 represents a specialised team from the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU) and Special Unit for Intervention in Emergency Situations (USISU) and was INSARAG re-classified in 2019 as a medium team. Following lessons learnt from the deployment to Türkiye in February 2023, a decision has been taken to upgrade the team from a medium classification to a heavy classification as per the INSARAG Guidelines Volume II: Preparedness and Response, Manual C: INSARAG External Classification and Reclassification, in order to improve its global disaster response contribution. Due to Romania’s position in the Carpathians, it can be presumed that, together with other existing USAR teams, RO-USAR-01 as a heavy team capacity could be an EU added value by its international experience gained within the joint activities carried out by the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations - Romania and other Mediterranean countries, as well as for the rapid land deployment and high efficiency in the North, Central and East Mediterranean area. The RO-USAR-01 team assures an additional cooperation and intervention framework with Romanian neighboring countries and this team can be used as a bilateral response, according to the Joint Intervention Plans.