ABBOTSFORD, B.C. - A group of British Columbia students is reported safe after getting caught in a massive earthquake that killed nearly 12,000 people in China.

The University of the Fraser Valley says none of its 10 students and one faculty member were injured in the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan province on Monday.

Greg Anderson, head of the kinesiology department at the University of the Fraser Valley, said he finally spoke to the faculty supervisor on Monday night.

"There are still aftershocks but they were getting in out of the rain, because it started to rain with all those people outside,'' Anderson said.

Anderson said the students, aged 20 to 28, fled the buildings of the university when the quake occurred, and spent about 18 hours outside in the rain before they could go back in.

"The electricity came back on for them. They had food, water, shelter, electricity,'' he said. "They still hadn't slept much because they left the building every time there was an aftershock.''

Anderson said the faculty member, Dr. Chris Bertram, told him the group has access to food and water and the power is back on.

Bertram has sporadic use of his Blackberry and has tried to let the students contact their families back home.

"We're still trying to figure out what we will be doing with them in the next couple days, but for now at least, they're safe. They're not rested well, but they're all in better spirits,'' Anderson said.

A statement on the Vancouver-area university's website says the families of the students have been contacted and are relieved their children are safe.

Another professor says the students were in class at the time the quake hit and ran from the building as plaster fell from the ceilings.

The students were in Chengdu and are part of a summer semester program on Chinese medicine offered by a university there.

Anderson said information has been scant.

"We're supplying information that they can't get in China,'' he said.

The airport in Chengdu has been closed to commercial traffic and as of yet there are no plans in place to bring the group home.

"We can't really get them home quite yet,'' Anderson said.

"We're just playing all that by ear. As we get information from them we'll update what we might be able to do with them. Right now they're safe and they have everything they need and we're grateful for that,'' Anderson said.

Here in Canada, members of Canada's only urban search and rescue team say it appears their highly specialized team will not be going to China to help with rescue efforts.

Brian Inglis, leader of the team based in Vancouver, says they could be on the ground in China Wednesday night if they were ordered to the scene immediately.

But he says the federal government would have to provide a heavy-lift aircraft to move all the gear needed for the team to search the shattered buildings for survivors.

The urban search and rescue team was acclaimed for its work helping victims of the New Orleans hurricane but it must be dispatched by a federal order that Inglis says appears increasingly unlikely to come.

Inglis says members will get their paperwork in order but they expect to sit and wait _ again.

However, he lauded the rescue efforts of the Chinese, saying all countries should react to an emergency the way they have.