The International Search and Rescue Dog Organisation in 2008 declared the International Search and Rescue Dog Day, which since then has been observed every year on the last Sunday in April.
A dog used in search and rescue operations replaces up to 30 people who would be needed to search an area in the same period, the ministry said.
It recalled that on 26 November 2019, when a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Albania, Croatia sent to that country a search and rescue team with 15 members of the Civil Protection Directorate and eight search and rescue dogs.
A dog's sense of smell is 10,000 times better than that of man, and they hear and see better than humans. These traits make dogs man's best friends and well as co-workers in crisis situations. Search and rescue teams, consisting of a dog and its handler, are exceptionally important in the work of civil protection forces and are indispensable in rescue operations.
Search and rescue teams save people's lives in urban areas when earthquakes, explosions and large-scale disasters happen.
Search and rescue dogs easily locate the place where a person is trapped, regardless of the distance and obstacles between them and the victim, and they can search 1,000 square metres of rubble in only 20 minutes, the Civil Protection Directorate said.