WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) —  The United States (US) said Friday it was sending a disaster response team of more than 250 personnel, including three special search-and-rescue units, to locate survivors in earthquake-hit Venezuela.

The three special units are made of firefighters, physicians, paramedics, structural engineers and canine search specialists with a total of 18 dogs trained to locate people trapped in rubble from the powerful twin quakes that hit Wednesday, a US State Department statement said.

The teams, dispatched from Miami, Los Angeles and Fairfax County, west of Washington DC, were en route and will work with local emergency responders in the aftermath of the quakes, which killed at least 920 people.