Building the first tier of local capability involves the training and development of existing local emergency services and community responders to meet the needs of the affected population at the onset of the incident. Termed ‘Scouts Sans Frontieres First Responders’, their role at the initial phase of an incident is that of:

• Assessing the nature and scale of the incident
• Rescue and basic casualty care in the initial stages of a collapse incident
• Providing information to domestic decision-makers about the event
• Requesting the appropriate resources required to successfully complete the rescue phase