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California task force sent to Nepal for rescue

Xinhua, April 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

A 57-person task force of firefighters was sent to Nepal Sunday to help rescue following a deadly earthquake in the Asian country.

A Los Angeles County fire department captain told media that the team left the task force's San Fernando Valley headquarters Sunday and was standing by at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County in the afternoon with an expected departure for Nepal as early as midnight.

The team was expected to arrive in Nepalese capital Kathmandu on Monday, said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Roland Sprewell.

A Santa Monica-based documentary filmmaker was among the over 3,200 people killed in the strong earthquake on Saturday.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) notified the Urban Search and Rescue Task Force Team 2 on Saturday to gather its personnel and equipment and prepare for deployment, said Sprewell, public information officer with the county fire department's homeland security section.

He said each member of the team has a specific area of expertise, including doctors, confined spaces and collapse experts, structural engineering specialists and dog handlers. They have been deployed to domestic disasters.

There are only two similar teams in the United States, and the other one is in Virginia and has already been deployed to Nepal. Endi