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They are trained to find bodies in rubble. Thankfully, there were none to unearth after Christchurch's 7.1-magnitude quake.
But the team of 130 Urban Search and Rescue volunteers - clad in black overalls with fluorescent yellow stripes and USAR stamped across their backs - were the first sign of hope
for thousands of rattled Cantabrians after last Saturday's jolt.
"For most of the people we went to, it was their first contact with anybody official ... Everybody you met wanted to tell their story," said one of the USAR leaders, Richard Twomey.
"So someone would take the task of listening to them while others went away and did their work."
The quake triggered the first full-scale deployment of the USAR, established 15 years ago and comprising three taskforces from Auckland, Palmerston North and Christchurch.
Mr Twomey is leader of the Auckland taskforce as well as the Fire Service's assistant commander for the Counties Manukau area.
His colleague Murray Binning, the Auckland fire region manager, is also part of the USAR management. His pager went off at 4.50am on Saturday.
"It was the comms centre to say there had been a major earthquake in Christchurch, and it's basically been all go since then."
Mr Binning said the team was trained for the worst but knew early on that Christchurch was a casualty-free zone.
He and Mr Twomey said claustrophobic people need not apply to join the USAR.
"We are trained to do primarily subterranean rescues," said Mr Binning. "When the building's collapsed we are made to go underneath ... You have got to like tight spaces, it's pretty dangerous."
The USAR volunteers worked until they dropped, doing 16-hour days before crawling on to stretchers at their base for a tremor-filled sleep.
One shattered man took a break on Tuesday night and immediately fell asleep but hours later got up to put the rubbish out.
"He was found outside in a pool of blood," Mr Twomey said. "Cracked head, cat scan ... So he's off until Monday. He wanted to come back today but we said, 'No way'."
In a co-ordinated multi-agency effort, the USAR workers were split into 25 teams to assess and repair damage, each group comprising a USAR worker, engineer, technician and council inspector.
Mr Twomey, Mr Binning and other Auckland-based USAR workers are back home enjoying tremor-free sleep.
The leaders say there is still a lot of work to be done in Canterbury and the team are keen to get back.
Urban Search & Rescue
* 130 volunteers nationwide.
* Taskforces coming from Auckland, Palmerston North and Christchurch.
* First full-scale national deployment since establishment 15 years ago.
