More than a dozen Burnaby and Mission firefighters and three search dogs left last night from YVR as part of a Canadian medical assistance team.
The group also includes a paramedic and two doctors.
They’re equipped with sophisticated search tools that can detect vibrations under the mountains of rubble.
The Heavy Urban Search and Rescue Team (HUSAR) based in Vancouver has not been activated, but is ready to assist in Nepal if necessary.
READ MORE: British Columbians heading to Nepal to provide assistance
The Canadian government is sending a disaster assessment team to the country and is contributing $5 million to relief efforts, Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson’s office said late Saturday.
There are 388 Canadians registered as being in Nepal.
The son of Vancouver mayor’s office Chief of Staff Mike Magee was one of the Canadians caught up in the earthquake at Pokhara.
Aedan Magee is in the country on a student program. His group had left Kathmandu to go on a trek just days before the quake struck.
Magee says his son’s group is safe, but they have not been able to speak to them yet and only know they are ok thanks to a satellite phone.
“We knew pretty much right away that Aedan was going to be ok,” says Magee. “They felt the earthquake very well where they were. They had the phone, they called in. We knew he was safe, but we did not know where and what conditions he was in.”
With files from Justin McElroy
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