By Patrick Healy and Jonathan Lloyd

Nearly 500 registered nurses from across the country have volunteered to go to the Philippines to help victims on the ground after the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan.

Many of the volunteers are originally from the Philippines, where at least 1,700 are dead and more than 2,500 injured.

"I think our expertise is much-needed over there," said nurse Sussette Nacorda "I think it's my way of giving back to my country, to my town."

The Southern California nurse responded to a call for help from the Registered Nurse Response Network. The agency organizes nurses for disaster responses.

Nurses sign up on the network's website, providing information about when they are available. The RNRN also organized volunteer responses for hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, the 2010 Haiti earthquake and other disasters in the past 10 years.

"It's just in our nature," said Nacorda. "We're very compassionate. We like to take care of people.

"We're familiar with doing this on a different level."

Some nurse volunteers, including Nacorda, are still waiting to hear from family members living in the Philippines. She has pictures of the damage that left her sister's home uninhabitable and gets updates on Facebook about her mother and siblings.

Nacorda grew up and attended nursing school in the Philippines. She has worked in Los Angeles for the last three decades.

RNRN is attempting to get an advance team together to make assessments and arrange for the nurses' deployment.