BHAKTAPUR, Nepal — A team of the United States’ most renowned search-and-rescue workers drove into the shattered city of Bhaktapur on Wednesday, having traveled to Nepal from Fairfax County, Va.

They brought with them sniffer dogs trained to detect live bodies, acoustic and seismic listening devices designed to pick up noises from entombed victims, and engineers capable of cutting through six-inch walls of reinforced concrete. Their goal was straightforward, said Capt. Mike Davis, the team’s manager.

“We are going out there to look for human life,” he said.

The members of the disaster assistance response team, from the United States Agency for International Development, drew stares, with their buzz cuts and neon hard hats, as they mounted the hill into the 15th-century city. But the next three hours brought a slow deflation, as they bumped into other international crews and one resident after another told them there was no one to save. The ruined houses were mashed wads of brick and mud and wood, leaving no space that could allow a trapped person to survive.