AS SHE crawled beneath the wreckage of a devastated three-storey religious school in quake-torn Pakistan, Julie Ryan,

pictured, thought her call would be met with silence.

But as she shouted down the makeshift tunnel she heard the helpless cries of two teenage boys - trapped for five days in the rubble.

"I have never experienced it before, in all honesty," she said. "We always go in and shout hello and you hear nothing.

"This was just as plain as day. It was almost as if they were sitting right next to me."

It was just another day of life-saving work for members of the 14-strong International Rescue Corps team who were dispatched to Muzaffarabad when the disaster hit.

They are just a handful of the hundreds of dedicated volunteers from York and North Yorkshire who use their skills to save lives.

Whether it is in northern India or southern America, home-grown medical experts and search and rescue specialists are making their mark in rescue efforts. Closer to home, the Scarborough and District Search and Rescue Team regularly launches operations across the county including remote caves and inaccessible coastal areas.

Julie, 38, from Welburn, near Malton, was the first female rescue worker to enter the area hit by the 7.6 magnitude quake, which killed about 50,000 people.

A trained rescue worker, Julie has helped search for survivors in disaster zones three times before, most recently at the massive volcanic mudslide in Colombia in 1998.

But she said this was some of the worst devastation she has witnessed.

"It was certainly one of the worst that we have been to," she said.

"But also the most successful because we got three people out alive.

"You have to distance yourself from it. We are professionals and train intensively over the years for this. Compassion does come into it, but you do try to be quite level-headed about it."

Her team mate, Sheena McCabe, 38, from Easingwold, has helped in the rescue effort in six disaster zones over 12 years with the corps.

Sheena, who is setting up her own business training people in disaster search and rescue techniques, said the work is emotionally draining, even for her team of highly-trained volunteers.

"You are trained to take on the role of the search and you just go into automatic pilot because we have so much to do and there is such a small time frame," she said.

"When you come home you get in through the front door and then you start to think about the work and feel emotional about it.

"We talk to each other and have access to counselling if we require it. What I find is the best thing to do is to get straight back into work and talk about my experiences."

Beyond the sacrifice of leaving friends, work and family for a traumatic disaster zone halfway around the world at as little as a day's notice, members of the corps have to undergo years of intensive training.

Trainee rescuers, who are all unpaid, must undergo a minimum of one weekend's training a month and it takes three years to take part in international rescue efforts.

Sheena said: "We live in a country where we are very well looked after and we do not have much in the way of big disasters where the emergency services are not able to respond quickly.

"It's about helping other people elsewhere in the world who are a lot less fortunate."

While these rescuers from North Yorkshire are aiding disaster stricken people around the world, hundreds of volunteers are trained to save lives across the county.

Specialist moor land and cave rescue workers operate in the Dales and the North Yorkshire Moors to help people who find themselves in trouble.

Scarborough and District Search and Rescue Team has about 50 members and this week launched an appeal for new recruits.

It was founded in 1965 after police requests for help in searching for people using the Lyke Wake crossing across the Moors.

Team leader Andrew Priestley said: "We welcome enquiries from those who have an interest in helping others and who are prepared to commit to the training required to perform as a member of the team."

For more information about the search and rescue team problem, phone Andrew on 01653 699667 or 01723 859188.

To find out more about the International Rescue Corps log on to www.intrescue.org or phone 01324 665011.

Updated: 13:13 Monday, October 24, 2005