The U.S. has two teams of Green Berets and disaster response personnel already on the ground in Nepal following the massive earthquake that is believed to have killed more than 4,000 people. Two more heavily laden U.S. C-17 Globemasters are en route with experts and equipment to help victims of Saturday’s magnitude-7.8 quake near Kathmandu.
Two U.S. Air Force C-17s are carrying more than 100 highly trained disaster response teams, 12 search dogs and tons of heavy-lift equipment and supplies into Kathmandu. The first of the large cargo aircraft will land at approximately 8 p.m. Monday, after flying almost nonstop and refueling in flight.
“This is a terrible tragedy. Thousands of people killed. The U.S. military is doing everything it can” to support Nepal, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said.
Fortunately, several highly trained U.S. military personnel were already on the ground when the earthquake hit.
Two teams of U.S. Green Berets, 26 in total, had been scattered throughout Nepal on training missions when Saturday’s earthquake hit.
Some of those 26 special forces were conducting high-altitude training and were quickly re-missioned to climbing and searching “a number of popular trekking routes including the Everest base camp route,” said Warren. Those Green Berets had “just what they carry” as they trekked to find survivors and assist with the wounded, Warren said.
The C-130 Hercules that flew the teams into Nepal had not departed at the time of the earthquake, and the aircraft has now been re-tasked to assist any U.S. citizens there evacuate if needed.
Green Berets with more extensive medical training are assisting the Nepalese army to treat wounded, while others have been helping construct a large tent city in Ratna Park in Kathmandu to begin housing the thousands of people who lost their homes.
Lastly, two additional U.S. military personnel were in Kathmandu to conduct a two-day workshop April 21 and 22 on disaster preparedness training and equipment assistance at Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs. Both are now working with the Nepalese government to help coordinate the response to the catastrophe, which wiped out vast urban areas and, according to a local district official in Nepal, killed thousands.
An official in the Gorkha district, the epicenter for the quake, said Monday 223 people have been confirmed dead so far.
