ICE-SAR is a special unit within the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue

Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue

Slysavarnarfélagið Landsbjörg or the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue is a national association of rescue units and accident prevention divisions. Its member organizations consist of 99 rescue units, 70 accident prevention and women's divisions and 50 youth sections...

. It is one of less than 15 teams worldwide that has received IEC Classification from INSARAG (International Search and Rescue Advisory Group) under the United Nations umbrella.

Like other search and rescue teams in Iceland it is all volunteer based. The team first responded to an international crisis in 1999 when it went to Turkey to rescue survivors following the earthquake there. Lately it was the first rescue team to arrive in Haiti following the earthquake there in 2010, arriving within 24 hours of the earthquake.

Besides its international missions the team has taken part in rescues following earthquakes and avalanches in its native Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

.

International missions

• 1999 İzmit earthquake
  1999 Izmit earthquake
  The 1999 İzmit earthquake was a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck northwestern Turkey on August 17, 1999, at about 3:02am local time. The event lasted for 37 seconds, killing around 17,000 people and leaving approximately half a million people homeless...
  
  
• 2003 Boumerdès earthquake
  2003 Boumerdès earthquake
  The 2003 Boumerdès earthquake was a magnitude 6.8 Mw earthquake that occurred on May 21, 2003 in northern Algeria. The epicentre of the earthquake was located in the town of Thénia in Boumerdès Province, approximately 60 km east of the capital Algiers...
  
  
• 2004 Morocco earthquake
  2004 Morocco earthquake
  The 2004 Morocco earthquake, at a magnitude 6.4Mw, occurred on 24 February 2004 near the coast of northern Morocco.At least 628 people were killed, 926 injured, 2,539 homes destroyed and more than 15,000 people homeless in the Al Hoceima-Imzourene-Beni Abdallah area, Morocco. Maximum intensity IX...
  
  
• 2010 Haiti earthquake
  2010 Haiti earthquake
  The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks...