Los Topos are utterly competent, dedicated and skilled rescue workers who, because of their experience, are trusted to go into areas others are forbidden to enter because of safety concerns. Thus, for the first three days after their arrival in Nepal, they carried out search and rescue in the district hardest hit by the April 25 earthquake, close to the border of China.
They didn’t sleep and hardly ate, but were focused on finding survivors and excavating the dead who were buried under landslides and inside destroyed buildings. This video shows Los Topos in action in Nepal. The husband of a woman asked Los Topos to find his wife, buried in a landslide. This video shows how Los Topos dug into the debris and recovered her body so he could give her a decent burial.
Los Topos means “the moles,” because they are famous for burrowing underground to locate victims of disaster.
Since the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Los Topos and the Scientology Volunteer Ministers have partnered on natural and man-made disasters in countries all over the world.
Hector "El Chino" Mendez, the founder of Los Topos (in the yellow scarf) with the leaders of other first responder teams at a meeting to coordinate search and rescue efforts. Mendez, a trained Scientology Volunteer Minister, displays his Volunteer Minister badge on his uniform.
This destroyed building—an all-too typical sight in post-earthquake Nepal.
Los Topos had the help of a dog, trained to locate bodies in disaster sites, in their search and rescue work in Nepal
Digging deep into the ground, Los Topos is able to operate in very dangerous circumstances because of their precision training and teamwork.
The husband of a woman asked Los Topos to find his wife, buried in a landslide caused by the April 25 earthquake. Los Topos dug into the cliff and recovered her body so he could give her a decent burial.
Los Topos and other members of the Scientology Nepal Disaster Response team with a member of the Nepal Armed Police Force.
Los Topos, on a bridge across a canyon in Nepal. Despite the dangerous and often tragic work they do, they are a tight-knit group with remarkable esprit de corps.
