Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. (February 7, 2023): In this photo by Senior Airman Faith Barron, members of the Fairfax County Virginia Urban Search and Rescue Team board a C-7 Globemaster III headed to the earthquake zone as part of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) emergency humanitarian response. The devastating impacts in Türkiye have stretched world resources to their limit as they struggle to cope with the worst earthquake to hit the region in nearly a century.

On February 6, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck central southern Türkiye, close to the Syrian border, followed by dozens of violent aftershocks. The earthquakes have resulted in over 45,000 deaths and has displaced millions.

USAID deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to lead the U.S. government’s response efforts to conduct disaster assessments, assist with search and rescue operations, and work with partners on the ground to save lives.

The Urban Search and Rescue team pictured above is a part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s urban search and rescue task force based in Fairfax County Virginia and sponsored by the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department.

Established in 1986, the task force is composed of over 200 specially trained career and volunteer fire and rescue personnel with expertise in the rescue of victims from collapsed structures following natural disasters or terrorist attacks.

Each team has emergency managers and planners, physicians and paramedics, and specialists in the fields of structural engineering, heavy rigging, collapse rescue, logistics, hazardous materials, communications, canine and technical search. As a part of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, the task force maintains constant operational readiness as a local resource for residents of Fairfax County and surrounding jurisdictions.

The U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster is the most flexible cargo aircraft to rapidly deliver  troops and all types of cargo to far flung locations around the world. The aircraft can perform tactical airlift and airdrop missions and can transport litters and ambulatory patients during medical evacuations. This mammoth plane is designed to operate from short runways and austere airstrips while carrying cargo of up to 170,000 pounds.

The budget for the USAID last year was approximately $49 billion which is distributed to its many relief operations around the world.