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Northern Va. responders heading to Venezuela to help with earthquake rescue efforts

By Scott Gelman

A team of Northern Virginia first responders is heading to Venezuela to help with rescues after a pair of deadly earthquakes rattled the country overnight Thursday.

Virginia Task Force 1, which includes the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Team, has been deployed, as has a similar group from California.

John Morrison, a spokesman for the Virginia suburb’s Urban Search and Rescue Team, said Thursday afternoon the State Department is still working to coordinate transportation because of potential damage to the main airport in Caracas.

The group, Morrison said, is bringing about 80 people and six dogs. To avoid requiring assistance from Venezuelan authorities, they’re traveling with 70,000 pounds of equipment, which includes shelter, food, water, rescue and medical equipment, communications gear and computers.

“We hope to get to Venezuela as quickly as possible, and then work with the local emergency management authorities to figure out where they need our capabilities and capacity the most, and go to work,” Morrison told WTOP. “And hopefully rescue some victims that are trapped in buildings after the earthquakes.”

At least 180 people have died after the earthquakes, The Associated Press reported.

The team specializes in “rescuing the deeply entombed from collapsed reinforced concrete structures post-earthquake,” Morrison said.

It was deployed to Haiti and Nepal after earthquakes in those countries, and last month, it simulated response and rescue after a large earthquake in an urban area during a joint exercise with responders from Los Angeles.

It’s unclear exactly how long Virginia Task Force 1 will remain in Venezuela. It’s dependent on how long the host government needs the extra help and resources, and “they’re the ones that would take a rescue phase and declare it a recovery phase, so we’ll be there as long as we’re needed,” Morrison said.

The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes injured about 1,500 people, and thousands have been reported missing, The Associated Press reported.

Fairfax County’s Fire and Rescue department sponsors Virginia Task Force 1, which has about 200 trains responders.

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