PUTRAJAYA, Oct 2 — December 11, 1993 marked one of the darkest moments in the nation’s disaster history when Block 1 of the Highland Towers Condominium in Ulu Klang, Selangor collapsed, claiming 48 lives.
The tragedy highlighted the need for a specialised search and rescue team capable of responding to large-scale disasters, leading to the establishment of the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) on August 1, 1995.
More than three decades later, SMART has evolved into a Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team that meets the standards of the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) under the United Nations (UN).
SMART obtained Heavy USAR recognition through the INSARAG External Classification (IEC) in 2016 and recently successfully defended the recognition through the INSARAG External Reclassification (IER), with excellent results.
