About the Organization
The Cave Rescue Service of Czech Speleological Society (CRS) is a non‐governmental organization established as a voluntary, specialized body of Czech Speleological Society in 1982.
The missions of CRS is to provide immediate and qualified assistance in case of an accident in the underground and/or other extreme conditions and to coordinate and ensure prevention of accidents in the underground (= prevention is better than cure).
It is a part of the Integrated Rescue System of the Czech Republic, the governmental system determined for coordination of all rescue operations.
CRS has 30 members spread into two units. One unit covers the west part of the Czech Republic ‐ Bohemia and the second unit covers the east part of the Czech Republic ‐ Moravia. Unit Bohemia, which has 12 members, is located close to Prague, in the proximity of Bohemian karst. Unit Moravia, which has 18 members, is located near Brno city, in the Moravian karst. Each unit has a warehouse with the necessary material for rescue operations: communication (TPS Nicola), ASV, and transport.
Only experienced and selected cavers can become candidates for CRS. After the training period, min 2 years, a candidate can become a member of CRS. Thanks to the long‐time experience, high motivation and regular complex exercises (min 6 times per year) all rescuers are masters of the art of extrication of an injured person from underground.
In addition to regular training exercises of each unit in all karst localities, co‐operative exercises with all CRS members and Integrated Rescue System bodies (Fire Rescue Service, Medical Rescue Service, Police) take place regularly. Members of CRS also take part in international exercises in central Europe.
Most of the interventions of the CRS in the past were fortunately successful and victims were rescued. Several times has been CRS rewarded for its activities.
CZECH SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
The Czech Speleological Society (CSS) is an association established in 1978 and its mission is to discover, explore, document, study, and protect caves and other karstic or pseudo‐karst phenomena, as well as artificial underground spaces.
CSS unifies 60 basic organizations with more than 1100 members who work in all parts of the Czech Republic. Besides, they organize dozens of foreign expeditions to explore world karst phenomena. Their activity is on the world‘s scale highly appreciated, which is also proved by the great credit that our speleology has gained recently. The Czech Republic was chosen as the organizing country of the 16th world’s speleological congress that took place in Brno in 2013. The members of CSS not only explore the caves but also on regular basis extensively inform experts, as well as the general [PA1] public of their activities. In addition to an annual meeting called “SPELEOFORUM”, they organize dozens of lectures, exhibitions, and issue their periodicals and regularly contribute to lots of other magazines. They have published dozens of books and made lots of movies about their activities.
Karst and Caves
KARTS AREAS in the Czech Republic in a nutshell:
Over 2,000 known caves and almost 3,000 abandoned mines are known in the Czech Republic. Most significant karst regions are:
Moravian karst (close to Brno) – 91 km2 – c. 1,100 caves
Bohemian karst (close to Prague) – 128 km2 – c. 300 caves
The longest cave system called Amaterska cave has c. 43 km.
The deepest caves have denivelation up to ‐200 m. The deepest flooded pit in the world is Hranice Abbys with a depth of 473 m.
Insurance
An Czech citizen does not have to pay for a rescue operation.
Contacts
Roman Šebela, +420721900970, roman.sebela@seznam.cz
Libor Matuška, +420603936689, libor.mattes@gmail.com
Sebastian Kovačič, +420737256651, s.kovacic@seznam.cz
Emergency Call: 112
Web:
www.caverescue.cz
www.speleo.cz
Social Media: facebook.com/szscss
