Voluntary Rescue Service in Hungary: The HUSZÁR Team

Abstract

HUSZÁR, the Hungarian National Organisation for Rescue Services, was founded in 2012 and now has a staff of over 80. HUSZÁR is a special rescue unit that can be deployed in domestic and international disaster management. Based on the United Nations International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (UN INSARAG) classification, HUSZÁR is a medium level urban search and rescue team and its units are equipped with special skills and technical equipment. A special feature of the team is volunteerism combined with professional interventional skills. Its subunits can manage individual interventions, they have participated in several international disaster relief tasks following earthquakes and tsunamis, and they have also played an active role in the preparation of other nations’ rescue teams.