A Canadian search and rescue team helped locate a young survivor trapped in earthquake rubble in Venezuela, where the country’s official death toll has climbed to just about 3,000. Greater than 16,000 people have been left homeless.
Tens of hundreds of local and international relief staff proceed search and recovery efforts. Amongst them were seven members of Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue and two search dogs, who spent 4 days trying to find survivors in a number of the country’s hardest-hit areas.
In an interview with Global News after returning home, Ryan Berry, president of Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue, described the destruction his team witnessed.
“If I were to explain it in a single word, I’d say it was devastating,” Berry said. “We were in areas where entire blocks were all collapsed. Anywhere from low-rise to high-rise buildings in any respect pancaked and collapsed completely. So devastating.”
The Burnaby-based team deployed as a lightweight urban search and rescue unit, allowing members to succeed in the disaster zone quickly.
Scenes from Venezuela from the Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue Team.
Courtesy of the Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue Team.
Deployment director Shawn Mohammed said that rapid response is certainly one of the team’s biggest strengths.
“Being light in comparison with medium to heavy teams gives us the operational agility to get into country sooner,” Mohammed said. “Inside that first 48 to 36 hours, it’s imperative to get someone in country to start out understanding where the needs are.”
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Working in sweltering heat, the team searched collapsed buildings for signs of life using specialized search techniques.
“We start with our drone, after which our canine teams go onto the pile,” Berry said. “Our canine team are trained for live and deceased indications, in order that they can distinguish between the 2.”
One among those searches led to a breakthrough.
“Each our K9 units, individually, each indicated a live hit,” Berry said. “From there, we deployed our DELSAR, which is acoustic listening equipment.”
The team later learned a young boy had been rescued alive.
A ruined constructing in Venezuela. Courtesy of the Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue Team.
Despite the successful rescue, Berry said it was difficult to rejoice a life saved while they were surrounded by a lot loss.
“But while you’re in that situation and also you’re working on sites where members of the family are digging with their bare hands trying to search out their family members, it’s a really limited feeling (of) celebration,” he said.
Many Venezuelans have questioned their government’s response, citing delays in relief supplies and an absence of heavy machinery to clear the rubble.
Mohammed said responding to a disaster of that scale required flexibility and the flexibility to adapt to changing conditions.
“We turn into very crafty in getting around and finding ways to attach with people,” he said. “If there’s work to be done, we don’t shut down, we keep moving and dealing.”
Although Burnaby’s deployment has come to an end, Mohammed said the people of Venezuela remain on the team’s minds.
“I do know that our time-frame in Venezuela is brief but our hearts and our thoughts are still with the Venezuelan people,” Mohammed said. “It’s a protracted road ahead.”
Scenes from Venezuela from the Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue Team. Courtesy of the Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue Team.
While Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue has since returned home, Canada’s humanitarian response continues. Speaking with Global News before deploying to Venezuela, Canadian Medical Assistance Team leader Jackson Raoul said his team’s mission is to assist relieve pressure on hospitals treating people affected by the earthquakes.
“Our mission, our task, is to ascertain a Type 1 fixed emergency medical team,” Raoul said. “We’ll be providing primary and urgent care integrated with a neighborhood hospital within the Caracas region of Venezuela.”
The team will provide outpatient look after patients who don’t require hospital admission, helping local hospitals concentrate on more serious cases.