Canadian medical team pulls out of Japan
The unstable nuclear threat in Japan has forced a Canadian Medical Assistance Team from B.C. to return home, just three days after flying in.
The seven members of the team stated on their website Wednesday that they are simply not equipped to work in a nuclear emergency.
Members of the team, which includes five Canadians and two Americans, arrived at the Vancouver International Airport on Wednesday morning.
Team chair Valerie Rzepka, who is based in Canada, states the team made the call after Japanese officials temporarily pulled staff from a nuclear reactor site earlier on Wednesday.
“We made the decision to bring the team home temporarily in the event of a catastrophe and we will continue to monitor,” she said. ‘
When the situation is more stable, the team will likely return, the website said.
Not equipped for nuclear threat
“Some frustrating circumstances have arisen,” stated the team’s website. “Within the last hour, it was confirmed that Emergency Operations at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant have been suspended, and a fire erupted in the outer portion of the No. 4 reactor unit’s containment vessel. Radiation levels may rise to a potentially high level.”
The team’s job was to travel to areas affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami and report back to teams in North America to co-ordinate the rollout of further volunteer efforts. The Canadian contingent includes three paramedics, a search-and-rescue expert and a photojournalist.
Team members made some contacts and did as much as they could before withdrawing, the website said.
“This is all very frustrating, but with the intelligence gathered, CMAT will continue to monitor, with hopes to redeploy once the situation has stabilized.”
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source : www.cbc.ca
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Submited at Thursday, March 17th, 2011 at 9:00 am on Health by samantha
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