Search and Rescue Team Lisa Alert is an organization made up of volunteers who search and rescue missing people. This non-profit public association was organized in the fall of 2010.
History of the organization
In the fall of 2010, two children went missing at once. Little Sasha got lost in the forest near Chernogolovka, and 5-year-old Liza got lost in the forest near Orekhovo-Zuevo, where she was walking with her aunt. These incidents showed that in Russia it is necessary to create a volunteer organization that will coordinate the search for missing people.
The search party was named after Lisa Fomina. The second word - alert - is translated from English as "alarm". The name was created by analogy with the AMBER Alert international notification system.
Functions of Lisa Alert and its members
The organization has many functions. First of all, these are:
- Fast and efficient search for missing people;
- Preventive measures that should lead to a reduction in disappearances;
- Training members of the organization and state search and rescue teams in the skills of conducting search operations, methods of providing first aid to the missing and injured, the use of search equipment (compass, walkie-talkie, navigator), other important and useful skills for search work;
- Informing about the work of the volunteer search and rescue team "Lisa Alert" with the aim of attracting new volunteers and more effective interaction with government agencies during the search for missing persons.
Members of the organization work:
- Remotely
- At the headquarters
- In the search area.
Hotline operators work remotely. They receive requests around the clock, process calls, and forward them to the appropriate units of the search and rescue teams. Employees advise viewers on priority actions in the event of a missing person.
The information coordinator also works remotely. He provides the necessary data to the headquarters, sends volunteers. The information group disseminates information in the media, attracts volunteers. A cartographer is working on a map of the search area.
The headquarters continues to work on the search for the missing person. The coordinator is in charge of the search and rescue efforts. A special role is played by the operational cartographer, who checks the readiness of the navigation equipment, loads the prepared search map, checks its operability, unloads information about the route traveled, marks the necessary information on the map.
The radio operator controls the radio communications of the headquarters with the search groups, monitors the information that comes over the radio channel. If the search is carried out for a long time, the support team brings water, food and supplies to the headquarters.
Operational work is being carried out in the search area. An aviation group, which was created in 2014 on the basis of the Heliport Moscow helicopter center, operates here. Helicopter volunteer search and rescue squad Angel was formed with the support of AOPA-Russia. This group surveys the search area from the air. Some aircraft are equipped with a thermal imager.
Ground vehicles - all-terrain vehicles and special vehicles - go around the territory and deliver the members of the search squad. Dog handlers work with search and tracking dogs. The first are looking for any person whose smell is different from the smell of the canine group, the second are following the trail of the missing. Divers are exploring reservoirs.
The search groups are led by the elders. One group can have from 2 to 30 volunteers. Volunteers on foot are combing the territory, posting advertisements, and interviewing the population.
How search operations are carried out
There are strict regulations for conducting search activities. Activity starts after receiving a signal. It comes in the form of a call to a 24-hour toll-free number. You can also leave a message on the website by filling out a special form. In some cases, information comes from special services, for example 112. You can submit an application, provided that the police have a statement about the loss.
When the application is accepted, a coordinator and information coordinator for the search operation are determined. The members of the squad receive notifications in the form of messages on the phone, mailings to e-mail, comments on Twitter. A special forum topic is also created.
While the volunteers are being informed, the headquarters staff call the Central Emergency Call Center, regional hospitals, and the Accident Registration Bureau. When the volunteers are ready to leave, they inform the Information Coordinator about the time and place from where they leave for the search. Based on this information, vehicle crews are formed.
The cartographer prepares and prints maps of the search area. It is divided into squares and zones to make it easier to navigate. At the same time, many orientation copies are drawn up and printed, which include:
- a photograph of a missing person;
- a description of its main features;
- an indication of the date and place where the missing person was last seen.
Information is disseminated in the media and on the Internet.
When the volunteers arrive at the place of search, the relatives and friends of the lost person are interviewed, contacts are established with the official services involved in the search (the police and the Ministry of Emergency Situations).
A field headquarters is organized on site, which includes a headquarters tent and a car, workplaces for a radio operator and cartographer, medical personnel, a kitchen and a parking lot. All existing and new information should come to the coordinator during the search process.
Taking into account the skills, abilities and capabilities of the volunteers, the coordinator divides them into appropriate groups and directs them to perform specific tasks on the ground. When new data comes in from the search groups, they are combined. The surveyed territories are promptly updated on the maps, the routes traveled and objects important for the search are marked.
The search is conducted around the clock until the missing person is found or all available versions are worked out. If the search does not return any results, the process is put into a passive phase until new information is found.
In addition to search activities, the detachment took part in the elimination of the consequences of the floods in Krymsk in 2012. For their socially significant work, the Lisa Alert squad received the ROTOR award as the best Internet community of the year.
Principles and basics of work
The organization's activities are based on the principles of goodwill, mutual assistance, and selflessness. The voluntary search and rescue squad "Lisa Alert" works free of charge and does not accept donations. The organization has no fundraising, electronic wallets and current accounts are not registered for it.
The only help the organization accepts is search assistance. This can be the dissemination and collection of information, assistance in providing search work, the necessary equipment as a gift, food for the organization of food search teams.
Among all cases of disappearance, priority is given to the search for children and the elderly. Also, first of all, the cases of people who disappeared in the natural environment are considered. The search for missing soldiers and their identification is outside the scope of the organization. All volunteers are adults.
Minors are not allowed in the association. Paid search services are neither provided nor maintained. The most numerous of the detachments is the Moscow one.
