An urban search and rescue (USAR) exercise in Qatar next week has been termed "business as usual" by NZ Fire Services area manager Bernie Rush.
Mr Rush, who was at the hub of USAR in this country from the time it was created in the mid-1990s, is currently a member of the organisation's management team and has been involved in many such exercises.
He will join 11 USAR leaders from other parts of New Zealand heading to Doha, the capital of Qatar today.
They will join representatives of other nations in an exercise running from November 11-13.
"We'll be joining teams from Russia, Spain, South Africa and Singapore." Mr Rush said while the Kiwis had worked with Singaporean teams "quite a bit" they had not worked with the other countries before.