Swiss rescuers leave Japan “with heavy hearts” - story w/pics

[Kadie]

Members of a Swiss rescue team return with their dogs from a mission in Japan, at the Swiss Air Rescue base in Kloten March 19, 2011. The team with nine dogs supported the rescue works after parts of Japan was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.


Tony Frisch (C), delegate of the Swiss Agency for Developement and Cooperation (DEZA), welcomes members of a Swiss rescue team, as they arrive with their dogs back from a mission in Japan, at the Swiss Air Rescue base in Kloten March 19, 2011. The team with nine dogs supported the rescue works after parts of Japan were devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.


Tony Frisch (C), delegate of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (DEZA), welcomes members of a Swiss rescue team, as they arrive with their dogs back from a mission in Japan, at the Swiss Air Rescue base in Kloten March 19, 2011. The team with nine dogs supported the rescue works after parts of Japan were devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.



Swiss rescuers leave Japan “with heavy hearts”
Mar 16, 2011 - 19:05

by Julia Slater, swissinfo.ch

The Swiss rescuers sent to Japan last weekend to help in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami have handed over to local teams and are preparing to return home.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) said on Wednesday that Swiss rescue dogs had located one person on Tuesday, and Austrian and New Zealand rescuers had started the retrieval operation.

swissinfo.ch spoke to team leader Ernst Bosshard in the northern town of Misawa as he waited there to fly home.

He explained that his team had been based in a camp in the town of Tome, which appeared more or less unscathed. But it was a very different story in the villages about 30 kilometres to the north, where the damaged buildings had subsequently been battered by the tsunami.

swissinfo.ch: What did your mission achieve?

Ernst Bosshard: The local people were very glad that we were there.
Unfortunately for various reasons it was not possible to work as much with the dogs as we had hoped.

more...
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/Swiss_rescuers_leave_Japan_with_heavy_hearts.html?cid=29748934&rss=true

[suffragette]

1. K&R

[Lucinda]

2. ...

Such a sad story. Thank you for posting this.

[jillan]

3. Kadie - I just love your posts. You always touch my heart.

[Kadie]

4. Thanks jillan.

:)