Two Alberta physicians will be heading to Nepal to help following the earthquake.
Chairman of the Canadian Medical Assistance Teams (CMAT) Doctor Rashad Chin said he expects their first volunteers on the ground within 36 hours.
“Our teams here are ready to go but what we need is to get some people on the ground to give us some better intelligence about the state of the situation and whether or not we will be useful there,” he explained.
The two doctors will also be joined by a nurse from Ontario.
“They will be going with a backpack. Their own personal tents and camp gear so they can be self-sufficient.” Chin said.
“As soon as we start sending teams we will be mobilizing as many of the supplies that we can source as well from around the world.”
Chin said the organization was staffed completely with volunteers and he was impressed with the support from around the country.
“I am very proud of our team here that is juggling their own jobs and their own family life and putting everything on hold to get this deployment going.”
An Edmonton Nepalese organization has also been searching for ways to help and have started gathering donations to help those affected by the earthquake.
“It is really scary and people are afraid to go inside. They are living outside,” Kusumakar Sharma, president of the Nepaelse Canadian Society of Edmonton (NECASE) told CTV News.
“They are in despair and do not even want to talk to other people there. They are in great shock.”
He said the group kicked off the fundraising by adding $5,000 and had already raised about $2,000 in a few hours.
Sharma said they planned to give the money to an aid organization like the Red Cross.
With files from Amanda Anderson
