58 rescuers were in the country for 21 days in the aftermath of earthquake.
AB Wire
SPRINGFIELD, VA: Members of the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Team, who were deployed in Nepal in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in that country on April 25, were feted by the local Nepalese American community here at the Waterford at Springfield on Sunday.
Twenty members of the Rescue Team were present at the event, which was attended by, among others, Rep. Barbara Comstack (R-VA), Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stability and Humanitarian Affairs Anne A. Witkowsky, Fairfax County Supervisor John W. Foust, Fairfax County Fire Chief Richard R Bowers Jr and Chargé d’affaires at the Embassy of Nepal in Washington Rishi Ram Ghimire.
“I want to say ‘thank you’ to our Fairfax Search and Rescue Team here today” for coming to the “assistance of the Nepali government and the Nepali people,” Witkowsky said. “I want to say how grateful we are from the Department of Defense… for the small measure of response… that we could make” in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Fifty-eight members of the Rescue Team and seven canines were in Nepal for 21 days assisting rescue efforts in that country. They were one of the two teams from the United States — the other was Los Angeles — deployed in the aftermath of the earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 and injured more than 23,000 people.
“There was a lot of devastation there, and lot of work for us to do,” said Chris Schaff, program manager and leader of the Rescue Team, describing his team’s experience in Nepal. “We were able to get on the ground quick and start working right away.”
Schaff thanked the Nepali American community for their gesture. “They were here when we got back,” he said. “They were actually at our offices when we got off the buses… they showed up to welcomes us back.”
The event was hosted by the International Development Institute, Sagarmatha Television and Waterford at Springfield.
“It was to recognize and say ‘thank-you’ to all the rescuers,” said Suman R. Timsina, Executive Director for Business Development at International Development Institute. The Institute is a Washington-based organization that offers programs on capacity-building and strengthening institutions primarily to leaders in the developing world.
Ram Kharel, founder of Sagarmatha, the first Nepali Television show in the United States, said he saw the work of the Rescue Team while he was in Nepal last month and wanted to honor them. A dinner reception he arranged in Kathmandu on May 12 for the team had to be canceled as another quake hit the country and they had to rush to the site for rescue operations, Kharel said.
“When I came back, I called them and arranged this event to honor them,” he said. “I am proud to be a Nepali American who is from Fairfax Country. The Rescue Team is one of the best in the world. They went to help us and we are honored to have them here.”