Turkey-Syria earthquake: Here’s why B.C.’s elite rescue team remains grounded

Members of Vancouver’s heavy urban search-and-rescue team are among the world’s elite, trained to rescue people from collapsed buildings in case of an earthquake off the Pacific coast. But almost a week after the massive and deadly Turkey-Syria earthquake, the team continues to watch from afar.

“Speed is of the essence,” NDP MP Don Davies said Friday. “Seconds, minutes, hours make a difference.”

The representative for Vancouver-Kingsway said the Vancouver firefighters’ union contacted him earlier this week with concerns that the team was not being deployed. Turkey’s consul general in Vancouver, as well as members of the Turkish-Canadian community, have also questioned the decision.

Taylan Tokmak, the consul general, said he reached out to the Vancouver fire department to discuss HUSAR, but was told deployment decisions rest with the federal government. Shortly after, he was approached by the Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue team, an independent non-profit team, and was able to assist them with accreditation and flights.

Tokmak confirmed the Burnaby search-and-rescue team “is and will be the only team from Canada.”

On Friday morning, the CBC reported the team had helped with the rescue of a woman trapped in a collapsed apartment building in Adiyaman, in southeastern Turkey.