Turkey, 8 February: Rescuers in Turkey and Syria battling bitter cold in a race against time to find survivors under buildings flattened by an earthquake that killed more than 11,700 people.
Tremors that inflicted more suffering on a border area, already plagued by conflict, left people on the streets burning debris to try to stay warm as international aid began to arrive.
The 7.8-magnitude quake struck Monday as people slept, flattening thousands of structures, trapping an unknown number of people and potentially impacting millions.
Whole rows of buildings collapsed, leaving some of the heaviest devastation near the quake’s epicentre between the Turkish cities of Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras.
Dozens of nations including the United States, India, China and the Gulf States have pledged to help, and search teams as well as relief supplies have begun to arrive by air.
India on Tuesday sent to Turkey relief materials, a mobile hospital and specialised search and rescue teams in four C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft to support the country’s rescue efforts following the massive earthquake.
India also sent six tonnes of relief materials, including life saving medicines and medical items, in a transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to Syria which was also hit by the earthquake on Monday.
Several countries, including the US and the UK, are also sending relief materials and search and rescue specialists to Turkey to help search for survivors of the quake.
Yet people in some of the hardest-hit areas said they felt they had been left to fend for themselves.
President Tayyip Erdogan also acknowledged on Wednesday some problems with Turkey’s initial response to the earthquake that rocked the southern part of the nation.
Erdogan made his first visit to the devastated region since the Monday, when two massive quakes hit within hours.
However, Turkey’s Ambassador to India Firat Sunel lauded India’s rapid response in providing aid to Turkey after the middle eastern nation and Syria were hit by a quake.
On Tuesday, Sunel said during a press conference that India was among the countries that immediately dispatched search and rescue crews to help with relief efforts.
On India’s timely support, Turkish ambassador Firat Sunel said, “This is an example of good friendship and we appreciate India’s timely help. Indian experts are now in the field.”
“‘Dost’ is a common word in Turkish and Hindi… We have a Turkish proverb: ‘Dost kara günde belli olur’ (a friend in need is a friend indeed). Thank you very much India,” he tweeted.
While External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also expressed solidarity at this challenging moment.
In a tweet, Jaishankar said he contacted his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad to express solidarity and convey India’s support.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, India helped earthquake-stricken Syria in accordance with the G20 motto “One Earth, One Family, One Future,” noting that the sanctions do not include humanitarian aid. India has dispatched assistance to help those in need in the wake of the earthquake that hit the nation.
In a special briefing on ‘Operation Dost’ on Wednesday, MEA Secretary West Sanjay Verma said, “We have set up a control room in Adana. The consul general from Istanbul and other officials from our mission in Ankara are all stationed on the ground in the affected areas.”
“Latest toll figure as per Turkish President @RTErdogan is 8,574, @SanjayVermalFS (Secretary- west) @MEAIndia said today in a Special briefing on #OperationDost #earthquakeinturkey #earthquaketurkey @trpresidency @RTErdogan @AfricaWnn #Turkey #TurkeySyriaEarthquake #TurkeyQuake pic.twitter.com/FAyPseS9tW
— Dr. Shahid Siddiqui (@shahidsiddiqui) February 8, 2023
Addressing a press conference on ‘Operation Dost‘, Verma also gave details about the Indian community residing in Turkey. There are 3,000 Indian nationals in Turkey, about 1,850 residing in and around Istanbul, about 250 in Ankara, and the rest of the others are residing across the country.
India has been able to send more than 250 personnel, specialized equipment and other relief material amounting to more than 135 tons to Türkiye on 5 C-17 IAF aircrafts. These include three self sustained teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) numbering more than 150 specially trained personnel, along with dog squads, specialized equipment, vehicles and supplies. Their equipment allows for detection, location, access and extrication of people trapped under collapsed structures.
While giving the details about the medical assistance that India is providing to Turkey and Syria, National Disaster Response Force DG Atul Karwal said that under ‘Operation Dost,’ the first team landed at Adana airport and the second was diverted to Urfa because Adana was crowded. Both of them are being converged at Nurdagi which is in Gaziantep Province, one of the worst affected areas.
In today’s special briefing on #operationdost @MEAIndia here’s the summary:
-Recieved call from 75 Indians for rescue, 10 Indians in remote part, but safe, 1 Indian missing, 3 Indians who approached the Indian govt already rescued .More in the video by @AtulKarwal , DG @NDRFHQ pic.twitter.com/iLObHRD6q0— Dr. Shahid Siddiqui (@shahidsiddiqui) February 8, 2023
“The third team’s requirement was sent to us. It was under preparation in Varanasi and was airlifted and brought to Delhi today. I met them at Hindon Airport. In the next few hours, they would depart with 51 rescuers, a canine complement and 4 vehicles,” Karwal said. “We have more teams in reserve because we don’t know how many more teams will be required. The damage is extensive across a very large area and we are prepared to render whatever help any additional teams that India can provide to Turkey in this time of crisis,” he added.
An Indian Air Force C17 flight with over 50 personnel from the NDRF and a specially trained dog squad along with necessary equipment, including medical supplies, drilling machines and other equipment required for the aid efforts departed for Turkey on Tuesday. The specially trained Labrador breed dog squad, which is an expert in sniffing and other key skills during rescue operations in disaster-hit regions, left India on Tuesday for Turkey with two separate teams of NDRF– a 51-member team which arrived there in the morning and another 50-member team which reached by the evening.
-Dr. M Shahid Siddiqui (PhD), Follow via Twitter @shahidsiddiqui
