I had no idea that the United Nations has already propagated six frequencies (and six repeater pairs), three in VHF, three in UHF, for disaster responders. These frequencies are not, in my experience, common knowledge among commercial radio vendors in the United States, and don’t appear to be referenced on the relevant pages on the FCC website, so it’s possible that we’re not a signatory to the agreement.
Here’s what’s brilliant about this idea – within certain distances along radio bands, it’s critical to have agreed-upon frequencies. And the cost keeps decreasing, as crystal-less, programmable radios which often have 16, 32, 64 or many more “channels” (frequencies or “repeater pairs” – two frequencies combined for signal boosting without feedback). So an international standard for all disaster workers to have at least three channels in common is, in and of itself, excellent policy.