Dutch team searches for quake survivors

10 October 2005

AMSTERDAM — The Netherlands sent a rescue team to Pakistan in the early hours of Monday morning to help search for survivors of Saturday’s earthquake on the Indian sub-continent.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said that a second plane carrying emergency supplies would leave midday on Monday. Many other countries have offered aid in response to the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that devastated parts of Pakistan and India.

As the relief effort got under way, some media sources and relief agencies estimated that up to 40,000 people died in Pakistan – the worst-hit country.

The Dutch Urban Search and Rescue Team consists of 60 rescue workers and eight tracker dogs. Pakistan formally requested the Dutch team on Sunday morning. It is expected the Dutch rescue workers will be based in the north of Pakistan.

The search team was previously deployed in Morocco in February 2004 to hunt for survivors following the earthquake in the Al Hoceima region.

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Subject: Dutch news