Strengthening Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) in Central America through the establishment of the USAR Regional Academy

Project completed

More than 12 million people are living on the pacific coast of central America, an area that shows high levels of seismic hazards. Despite this fact, the countries of the region have failed to develop efficient structures for the search and rescue of affected people during a disaster. Some initiatives have been developed in previous years, on an individual basis, by some countries of the region. However, so far only Costa Rica has been able to consolidate and maintain a light-level USAR team. The other countries have so far reached different levels of development, but all of them on a lower level than Costa Rica. The Central American countries have however participated individually in important international USAR events, and most of them have sent USAR teams to Haiti, to help rescuing victims after the earthquake of January 2010. But they are working without common standards and without a proper regional coordination. For this reason, it is imperative that the region initiates a process to accelerate the establishment of a regional USAR long-term strategy. This strategy is intended to clearly serve as a guideline for the region, the countries, the concerned institutions and the donors. This project will improve the regional and national capacities in rapid response, mainly for those disasters linked to earthquakes. The project will also foster the development and implementation of the USAR regional strategy.

Country/region Topic Period Budget
Central America
Climate change and environment
Disaster risk reduction DRR
01.05.2012 - 30.09.2015
CHF 1'450'000
Directorate/federal office responsible SDC
Credit area Humanitarian aid
Project partners Contract partner
Foreign academic and research organisation
  • Research Organisation of South East


Budget Current phase Swiss budget CHF   1'450'000 Swiss disbursement to date CHF   1'451'920
Project phases

Phase 1 01.05.2012 - 30.09.2015   (Completed)