Kurdistan Region Advances in Community Disaster Response with Second INSARAG Training Week
The Kurdistan Region is one of only five countries to have implemented the INSARAG CRT program. A key factor in its success has been the careful localization of the curriculum.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The Kurdistan Region has strengthened its community-level disaster preparedness by hosting the second edition of the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) Community Responder Training Week, held from October 13 to 16. The initiative was organized by the Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCC) with support from the German Agency for Technical Relief (THW).
INSARAG’s Community Responder Training (CRT) was designed to equip local first aiders with the skills needed to respond effectively in the vital early hours following a disaster. Global earthquake data consistently shows that the majority of successful rescues are carried out by civilians—neighbors, relatives, and community members—long before professional teams can reach affected areas. To address this gap, INSARAG developed the CRT package, endorsed in 2023, which provides both theoretical and practical instruction on disaster assessment, information gathering, team formation and task allocation, basic search and rescue, first aid, and reporting.
The Kurdistan Region is one of only five countries to have implemented the INSARAG CRT program. A key factor in its success has been the careful localization of the curriculum. Local trainers can adapt the international standards to reflect regional realities—such as local earthquake risks, common disaster types, building structures, and examples drawn directly from communities. This approach ensures that participants not only understand the material but can also apply it immediately in real-life scenarios.
During the 2025 training week, five CRT courses were conducted simultaneously in Erbil, Sulaimani, Halabja, Duhok, and Raparin Independent Administration, training 125 participants from civil society, including teachers, volunteers, and agency staff. A similar multi-location training was successfully carried out in November 2024.
The JCC fully organized and facilitated the program, while THW provided administrative support. Representatives from THW and the German Federal Ministry of the Interior officially opened the event digitally. JCC master trainers led most of the sessions, supported by THW personnel who had participated in the 2023 CRT test-run in Wesel, Germany.
The long-standing partnership between JCC and THW has played a key role in expanding community resilience in the Kurdistan Region. To date, THW has supported the implementation of 43 CRT courses across the region, helping train approximately 1,000 community responders.
