Israel prepared Saturday to dispatch search and rescue teams and humanitarian aid to Nepal following a massive earthquake which has killed over 1,200 people.

A source in the Prime Minister’s Office said that Israel was to send emergency responders Nepal to help with disaster relief, and the director general of the Foreign Ministry said it was readying humanitarian aid for the disaster stricken country.

The IDF said it would send a rescue team to Nepal Saturday night to assess the scope of aid required.

There were no known Israeli fatalities in the quake in the hours immediately after the disaster, Director-General Nissim Ben-Sheetrit told reporters at a press conference, but the Foreign Ministry was working to get in touch with Israelis in Nepal who were out of communication. One Israeli was reported by his father to have been injured in his legs, and he was being treated at the local Chabad House.

“We are trying to locate Israelis who are disconnected from their families,” he said. According to Ynet, 200 Israelis were out of contact in Nepal after the 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit near the capital of Kathmandu. Some 2,000 Israelis altogether were said to be in Nepal.

Jerusalem was also planning to airlift surrogate mothers bearing Israeli babies to safety, he said. Nepal is a popular destination for Israeli couples to hire surrogates, and Ynet reported that there were dozens of Israeli couples in the country Saturday with at least 24 newborns.

(Times Of Israel)