RESCUING casualties trapped inside collapsed buildings and negotiating hostile roadblocks have been some of the challenges faced by Serve On disaster responders. 

A team of 14 volunteers have been taking part in Fake Quake, which started on Thursday night at Salisbury Fire Station - the headquarters of charity Serve On. 

Since deploying, the team have walked through the night to assess needs in remote villages, negotiated through tense situations and hostile border crossings and rescued casualties from the River Dart.

Fake Quake exercises have been taking place at different locations in Wiltshire and Devon. 

In the last 24 hours, the team has been based in a disaster simulation village, rescuing casualties trapped inside collapsed buildings, and locating missing people using arrange of search techniques – ably supported by rescue dogs Brandy & Jake. 

The team established a base camp and communications centre to co-ordinate their rescue activities, and have been living out of their rucksacks just as they would during a real disaster.  

All the exercise scenarios have been carefully designed by members of Serve On who have already been assessed to work in disaster zones and have previously deployed internationally.

Each task has been set up not only to test the competency of different skill sets but also to help each team member bond and come together with a variety of backgrounds and skills.