Ten members of Fairfax County's Urban Search and Rescue Team landed in Bogotá, Colombia, on Wednesday to help coordinate disaster response after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake killed at least 181 people and left thousands missing.

The team, which operates internationally as USA-01, deployed at the request of the U.S. Department of State, Virginia Task Force 1 confirmed on X. After meeting with Colombian national emergency managers in Bogotá, the 10-person crew headed toward the hardest-hit areas in western Colombia.

Their mission: disaster coordination, communications support and structural engineering assessments of damaged buildings.

The earthquake struck Tuesday, Aug. 11, near San José del Palmar in the remote Chocó region. It collapsed buildings, buckled roads and crushed vehicles across the cities of Cali, Pereira, Manizales, Quibdó and Buenaventura, according to Fox 5 DC. Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella confirmed at least 181 dead and 2,595 injured as of Wednesday; civilian-run databases estimate more than 4,000 people remain missing, far above the official count of 195.

The U.S. government has offered $15.5 million in emergency assistance to Colombia, Deutsche Welle reported.

In Colombia, the Fairfax County team is partnering with a 10-member crew from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, also deployed Wednesday by the State Department, according to ABC 7.

Virginia Task Force 1 is one of only two U.S. urban search and rescue teams funded and trained to deploy globally under the State Department. Sponsored by Fairfax County Fire and Rescue and headquartered in Chantilly, the team rosters about 200 specially trained career and volunteer personnel.

The Colombia mission marks VA-TF1's second international deployment in less than two months. The team responded to two earthquakes in Venezuela in late June.

Days before the Colombia deployment was announced, the task force marked the retirement of Battalion Chief Rodney Vaughan, who served 27 years on the team and completed 18 deployments. Residents can follow the mission's progress through VA-TF1's official accounts on X at @VATF1.