From September 10 to 11, a 32-hour field exercise was conducted in the Syunik region in accordance with the UN International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) standards. The exercise involved the Syunik Urban Search and Rescue Group (USAR) consisting of 47 nationally qualified rescuers.

The field exercise was monitored on-site by a working group from the Ministry of Emergency Situations led by Assistant Director Armen Gevorgyan.

The 32-hour field exercise on "Organization and execution of search and rescue operations in case of an earthquake" took place in the Kapan community and near Kajaran. During the exercise, the Syunik Urban Search and Rescue Group simulated a scenario involving a strong earthquake registered in Vayots Dzor, consisting of three phases: mobilization, deployment to the disaster zone and demobilization. 

The purpose of the exercise was to assess the mobilization of the command staff of the USAR Group coordinated rescue operations and evaluated their capabilities in rescue activity, particularly in working with ropes and specialized equipment.

According to the scenario, on September 10 in 2024, at 7:30 local time, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 at a depth of 10 km had occurred 2 km northeast from Yeghenadzor. There were significant destructions, resulting in casualties and victims with about 30,000 people were injured.

The most severe destruction occurred in Yeghenadzor, Vayk, and Jermuk town, as well as in Areni, Agavnadzor and Rind communities. Preliminary reports indicated that several villages such as Bardzruni, Artavan, Malishka, Her-Her, Zaritap, Sers, Azatek, Martiros, and Arin, were also damaged by the earthquake.

The rescuers operatively formed a tent camp in the conditional disaster zone, immediately after its deployment, the rescue groups received the rescue operation sites for the respective sites and performed search and rescue operations in a 4-hour shift, using different equipment for each site.

At the sites, operations included lowering casualties using ropes, extracting individuals stuck in the rubble with the special tools and safely evacuating them from buildings through secure methods.

At the end of the exercise, A. Gevorgyan summarized the results of the conducted activities, highlighted the advantages and disadvantages, instructed to work on the elimination of the recorded shortcomings.
It should be noted that the standard of the UN INSARAG advisory group is the national level of USAR Group and the development of the INSARAG methodology. In 2024, similar exercises are planned to be conducted by the Tavush, Lori and Shirak USAR Group.