Record of the urban search and rescue workshop, 9-12 September 1996.

Cover title

During recent years throughout the world there has been an increase in both natural and human-caused disasters. While Australia has had its share of disasters, we have been spared from the scale of destruction seen in other countries. One form of disaster to which we have had little exposure is that of infrastructure collapse. However, due to an increase in world terrorism and the vulnerability of some of our cities to earthquake, it may be only a matter of time before we will be faced with a major incident which causes catastrophic destruction and entrapment. In countries where these types of disasters are a more common occurrence, techniques have been developed and resources allocated to ensure a more efficient and effective rescue operation. Australia, however, has undertaken little development of response strategies for major infrastructure collapse in urban environments. At its 1995 meeting, the National Emergency Management Committee (NEMC) considered a proposal that Australia should have an Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) capability. It recommended that a workshop should be conducted to identiy existing capabilities and to examine issues associated with the development of such a capability