Sri Lanka Army is a valuable resource for the country as a capacity factor in disaster situations. Sri Lanka Army has established Search and Rescue teams (SAR teams) in all 25 districts.

To describe the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of SAR teams regarding search and rescue as a response to disasters.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out from October to December 2017. Five platoons were selected randomly from high and medium risk district categories, and all five platoons were selected from the low-risk category. The total sample size was 465. A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was employed.

The median age was 28 years. 3.2% were officers, 96.8% were soldiers, the majority (80.4%) were educated up to G.C.E. (O/L), and 62.4% were married. 52.9% of the population had undergone SAR training during the past three years in Sri Lanka, and none had undergone training outside of the country. Overall knowledge regarding search and rescue as a response to disasters seem to be good (57.2% received higher than a score of 75%). 93.8% has desirable positive attitudes. 73.5% had participated in search and rescue operation as a response to disasters. Overall practices seemed to be poor, (71.3% of the population received lower than a score of 75%). A statistically significant association was observed with a level of education (p = 0.001), designation (p = 0.004), and knowledge on search and rescue as a response to disasters. Level of education, designation, and SAR training had no significant association with attitudes on search and rescue as a response to disasters. A statistically significant association was observed with designation (p = 0.021) and practices.

Search and rescue drills should be carried out regularly. Knowledge of search and rescue as a response to disasters should be incorporated into training programs for officers and soldiers.