Iceland renews pact to rebuild international rescue team

Iceland’s Foreign Ministry and the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue have renewed their agreement on the country’s international rescue team, mbl.is reported. The team has not been internationally certified or ready for deployment in recent years, but the partners aim to restore its capability and secure certification by 2029.

The new agreement, signed by Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, runs until the end of 2028. The ministry said it is intended to maintain the team’s readiness and strengthen its ability to take part in international rescue operations and humanitarian work.

Landsbjörg chair Borghildur Fjóla Kristjánsdóttir said the organisation scaled back the team’s activities in 2021 to focus more on building rescue capacity in Iceland. It continued to maintain the team’s structure and take part in international cooperation, but no longer had a fully staffed, certified team ready to deploy.

At present, Landsbjörg could not send a complete rescue team abroad, Borghildur said. However, it has specialist groups that can contribute to international operations. A group recently travelled to Turkey to work on communications and incident management.

The team began with a seven-person Icelandic rescue group sent to Turkey after an earthquake in August 1999. That operation helped lay the groundwork for the international team, and its first cooperation agreement was signed in March 2000. Since then, it has taken part in seven international missions, including rescue work after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, where it was the first rescue team to arrive.

Borghildur said experience gained in international rescue operations also benefits preparedness in Iceland.