Topos de Tlatelolco

The group, along with the Civil Protection Agency of Mexico, issues certificates and sponsors technical degrees in areas related to the field.

[4] The group maintains ties with the International Rescue and Assistance League in France and the United Firemen without Frontiers in Spain.

However, their longest association is with the government of Mexico City, whose professional ambulance corps along with the Mexican Red Cross assisted with the initial training of rescue dogs.

[4] The organization began when a group of youths decided to help with rescue efforts in the aftermath of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake[1][4] They mostly assisted by searching collapsed buildings for victims, risking their own lives in the process.

None of the initial volunteers had any training, experience or equipment, but now the Topos are a professional team which have aided in rescue efforts in Mexico and various countries.

The workers themselves made it to Banda Aceh only because a Baptist minister overheard the group arguing over money and gave them the US$400 they needed to cross.

They ate whatever they could, slept in tents distributed by the Chinese government and hitched rides to disaster sites on Indonesian police trucks.