Vancouver's Heavy Urban Search and Rescue team, despite having never responded to a real earthquake, is trying its best to stay sharp still hoping to be sent to Nepal.

"Vancouver's HUSAR team hasn't been deployed to experience the real thing to bring all those lessons learned home," said Joe Foster, an assistant chief with Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service who manages the team.

"We can drill and we can do scenario best training but we really need that expertise of having been there, seen it, done it."

B.C.'s provincial government has offered the team up to be deployed to Nepal. However, the decision and funding to send it belongs to the federal government.

<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Vancouver?src=hash">#Vancouver</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HUSAR?src=hash">#HUSAR</a> Team Ready to Assist in Nepal earthquake <a href="http://t.co/gpBYLkUcS6">http://t.co/gpBYLkUcS6</a> <a href="http://t.co/l6s2PWHNXG">pic.twitter.com/l6s2PWHNXG</a> —@VanFireRescue

The HUSAR team, which has asked to be sent, is waiting and continuing to practise as best it can.

On Saturday, it converted an abandoned building at Vancouver's city hall into a disaster zone to practise shoring up damaged walls, using sniffer dogs to search for buried people and rappeling off roofs.

Vancouver's team — one of four in Canada — is made up of 120 people, mostly fire fighters, police, B.C. ambulance and city staff.

The three other teams are based in Calgary, Brandon, and Toronto. They can all be called on to respond in their own jurisdictions, across the country or abroad.

Foster says not only do the teams need more real experience in disaster zones, they also need more money.

Vancouver fire assistant chief Joe Foster manages HUSAR. He says it needs more real disaster experience and more federal funding. (CBC)

"The fire chiefs across the country — including in the Maritimes — have all banded together and put forward a lobby to ask the federal government to reinstate our funding at $1.6 million," he said.

In the meantime, Vancouver's team will continue to practise and help the city work with residents to prepare emergency kits that would allow households to survive without assistance for at least 72 hours.

Emergency Preparedness Week begins May 4. The City of Vancouver is offering multiple workshops to help residents come up with emergency plans and kits of their own.