An EMU team with 56 soldiers is already in Morocco to help rescue survivors

Another group of 30 emergency personnel from the Community of Madrid will travel to collaborate in the tasks

MADRID, 10 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

A team from the Military Emergency Unit (UME), made up of 56 soldiers and four dogs, is already in Morocco to collaborate in the search and rescue of survivors of the devastating earthquake suffered by the neighboring country.

The troops of the UME have arrived in Morocco after taking off this morning from the Zaragoza Air Base to Marrakech, in an A400 plane of the Air and Space Army.

The EU personnel deployed to Morocco are made up of a search and rescue team from BIEM IV (Zaragoza), with 46 soldiers, and a coordination team from the Headquarters (UMEDAT), with 10 troops. They are joined by four dogs of the cynological team.

The acting Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, has underlined Spain's "commitment" to the citizens of Morocco. "We are going to try to help as much as possible in saving lives, just as was done in Turkey, in the face of dramas of this magnitude," she declared.

The UME has Search and Rescue (USAR) teams certified by both the United Nations and the European Civil Protection Mechanism that provide the capabilities to search for survivors or deceased among the rubble using cynological equipment or technical means (geophones, telescopic cameras or georadar).

In addition, these teams have the capacity to cut and drill structures such as reinforced concrete, as well as to rescue victims once they have been located and access to them has been opened.

Likewise, they have means for detecting possible toxic or explosive substances to ensure the work of those involved.

These UME teams have already participated in earthquakes such as those in Haiti, Lorca, Nepal, Ecuador, Mexico or the most recent one in Turkey, where they were deployed in February of this year, locating six people alive under the rubble.

For their part, members of the Special Emergency and Immediate Response Unit of the Community of Madrid (ERICAM) will soon travel to Morocco to collaborate in the search and rescue of earthquake victims.

As reported by Emergencies Community of Madrid, the team will be made up of thirty people who belong to the Firefighters of the Community of Madrid, SUMMA112, canine guides and four rescue dogs.

The devastating earthquake in Morocco has so far left at least 2,012 people dead and another 2,059 people injured, of which 1,404 are in critical condition. The earthquake of magnitude 7 on the Richter scale was recorded in the province of Al Haouz.