Wanganui Fire Officer Bryce Coneybeer is at the helm of the 42-strong Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team due to fly out of Auckland to Japan today.
The 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck off the east coast of Japan on Friday has been recorded as 1000 times stronger than the Christchurch earthquake on February 22.
Speaking from Auckland last night, Mr Coneybeer said the rescue team had come in from all over New Zealand, with most of them heading straight to Auckland from Christchurch.
Two other Wanganui Fire Officers, Aaron Summerhays and Ross Whetton, are part of the USAR team for Japan.
Going to Japan from Christchurch was a real challenge for all of them, Mr Coneybeer said.
"I don't know what the word is ... surreal comes close."
The New Zealand Fire Service USAR team sent an advance team of eight on Saturday, he said.
"We've had to ensure we still had people on the ground in Christchurch before we could leave.
"It's still rocking and rolling down there, day and night ... Christchurch is a mess, a real mess. We couldn't just leave."
The team was due to arrive on Honshu Island at 4.30pm New Zealand time today and would be based at Minamisanriku town, Miyagi - where the tsunami engulfed the entire town, he said.
The once-thriving town was covered in mud and was a desolate landscape of broken wood and twisted metal with thousands of people missing, he said.
Mr Coneybeer said the New Zealand, Australian, United States and Korean USAR teams had been called in by the Japanese Government.
"The Japanese were impressed with the way we all worked in Christchurch."
An interpreter from the Japanese Embassy in New Zealand was with the team , he said.
"We've all been given lists of Japanese words to learn ... yeah, the language will be difficult, but we'll manage."
Most of the team had had only two days off since the Christchurch quake three weeks ago, he said.
"So home is starting to feel like a distant place right now."
Mr Coneybeer said the team would probably be in Japan for at least 10 days.
"Look, we just don't know ... it's a challenge. We really don't know what we're facing ... this is one terrible disaster."
The international USAR teams would be briefed in Japan tonight, he said.
"We have no idea of exactly what or how ... we're going there to do our job. Whatever they need us to do."
Rescue team Japan bound
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