Budapest Mentőszervezet

Founded in 2015, Budapest Mentőszervezet is a non-profit network based in Budapest, Hungary working on humanitarian aid & disaster relief, community development.

The Budapest Mentőszervezet (BMSZ) is a civil coordination network of volunteer emergency and disaster response organisations in Budapest. Formed in 2015 by the Budapest Police-linked volunteer patrol federation, the Budapest Firefighters Federation and the Hungarian Red Cross Budapest branch, it brings together member groups to train, exercise and deploy volunteer rescue capacity. Its capabilities include flood defence, water rescue, diving, urban search and rescue, search dog teams, rope rescue, technical rescue, medical aid points, first aid, and command and logistics. It has earned national accreditation across all categories of the Hungarian National Qualification System. The organisation supports the professional disaster management services, takes part in missing-person searches in cooperation with the police, and can deploy anywhere in Hungary, as it did in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county in 2016. Its member organisations also run a volunteer fire service. Work is carried out on a fully civil, volunteer basis.