A medical response team from La Jolla-based Scripps Health will be deploying to Nepal to aid in earthquake relief efforts under the auspices of the International Medical Corps. The team is expected to leave for Nepal on April 30 or May 1. At least 16 Scripps nurses and physicians and a small support contingent will be in Nepal for approximately 21 days.
Many team members have deployed previously on Scripps missions to the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and to Haiti following the earthquake there in 2010. The team will be working in a mobile field hospital being delivered to Nepal. Teams from Stanford and Harvard universities will also be responding as part of the International Medical Corps’ efforts.
“We are proud and honored to be able to offer help in this tragic situation,” said Chris Van Gorder, Scripps president and CEO. “Responding to emergencies like the one in Nepal and others we’ve helped out with in the past not only provides needed aid to victims of those crises; it gives our team needed experience to help out in case of disasters here at home.”
Scripps is also planning for a potential second team to follow the first.
More than 5,000 have keen killed in the 7.8-magnitude Nepal earthquake, which struck April 25 and was epicentered in the Katmandu Valley. Aid reportedly has begun to reach the remote villages affected. Meanwhile, the United Nations has launched an appeal for $415 million in emergency relief over the next three months.
– Scripps Health