Turkish Consulate says deadline for Canadian rescue teams in quake zone has passed
CTV
Turkiye's consulate in Vancouver says a private group of volunteers from British Columbia will be the only Canadian search and rescue team in the nation's earthquake zone, after a deadline for others to participate expired.
Turkiye's consulate in Vancouver says a private group of volunteers from British Columbia will be the only Canadian search and rescue team in the nation's earthquake zone, after a deadline for others to participate expired.
Canadian federal authorities have not given an official go-ahead to any rescue teams since Monday's quake that killed thousands, but the consulate says the Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue group was deployed in Turkiye early Thursday morning local time after independently offering help.
The consulate says in a statement the Burnaby team, made up of firefighters and other first responders, "is and will be the only team from Canada" acting as rescuers in the quake zone.
B.C.'s Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma said Thursday that the province had reached out to Public Safety Canada on Monday morning about the possibility of rescue teams being deployed because such assistance needed to be co-ordinated.
Ma said the province had since been in constant daily contact with Public Safety Canada but had "yet to receive direction."
She said she would not "presume to know what conversations Global Affairs Canada is having with partners."
International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan said Canada's commitment of $10 million to quake relief efforts was the fastest response available, rather than sending a specialized Heavy Urban Search and Rescue, or HUSAR, team.
