The National Disaster Response Force is raising a squad of 162 dogs to help rescue people trapped under debris in the aftermath of natural disasters such as earthquakes, reported PTI. Many of the dogs have finished their primary training and are now being taught to sniff out life in collapsed concrete structures through field exercises.

“We have undertaken an exercise to train special USAR [registered service animal] dogs as they are the best companion of a rescuer during such challenges. This is the first time that dogs for disaster response are being trained on such a large scale indigenously," NDRF Director General O. P. Singh said. The DG said that dogs have often proved to be more capable than human rescuers because of their inherent special skills, which is why the force decided to train special dogs for the Urban Search and Rescue team.