Czech rescue team will wait for official request from Morocco until 4pm

The Czech Urban Search and Rescue team will not be deployed to earthquake-hit Morocco if they do not receive approval from the Moroccan authorities by 4 p.m. on Monday, a spokesperson for the Czech Fire and Rescue Service told the Czech News Agency. However, until that time the team will remain on standby, ready to be deployed, as it has been since Saturday.

According to the fire service spokesperson, the Moroccan prefecture hit by the earthquake has expressed interest in deploying the Czech USAR team. Without an official note, however, it is not possible to send a foreign team to the country. The Czech ambassador to Morocco, Ladislav Skeřík, told Czech Radio on Monday that foreign search and rescue teams have not yet received an invitation because the roads in the mountains are still impassable and it is not yet possible to reach the worst-hit areas.

Rescue teams from other European countries, such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy, are in a similar situation. Morocco's interior ministry said on Sunday that it had so far only accepted offers to send rescue teams from Spain, the United Kingdom, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.