After the earthquake
“You can’t describe it in words”: What German undertakers are experiencing in the Turkish crisis area
Relatives of several earthquake victims pray at Sehir Cemetery in Turkey
© Francisco Seco/AP/DPA
After the earthquake in the Syrian-Turkish border region, helpers came from various countries – including Germany. What they experience leaves them speechless.
A week after the earthquake in the Turkish-Syrian border area, many German rescue teams have already left because there is little hope of rescuing any survivors. For Markus Maichle and his team, however, the work is far from over. The funeral experts identify and disinfect the bodies of earthquake victims in the disaster area in southern Turkey. Since his arrival last Tuesday, the team has worked tirelessly.
Maichle is Vice President of the Federal Association of German Undertakers and heads the voluntary DeathCare Embalming Team Germany, which includes 13 trained undertakers from all parts of Germany and two interpreters. Due to his job as an undertaker in Geislingen an der Steige in Baden-Württemberg, Maichle is used to dealing with the dead. All other team members are also familiar with the topics of death and grief from their everyday work. But the situation in southern Turkey’s Kahramanmaras overwhelms them too.
In the past few days, they have already taken care of about 250 bodies, including the bodies of children. “It’s very tough for the team and for all of us,” says Maichle. “When you see that, all the other problems in your life are so small.”
“Have sleepless nights, feel ashamed when we eat”
Maichle is concerned with how suddenly the catastrophe struck the people in the Turkish-Syrian border area. A few days ago, all the buildings in Kahramanmaras were still standing, their residents led a normal life – now everything is destroyed. “It’s difficult to imagine, it’s crazy.” Now there are so many dead in the big city that Maichle and his team have to work around the clock.
The winter weather, which affects the survivors of the earthquake, is beneficial for the work of Maichle’s team – the corpses decompose less quickly. Nevertheless, the funeral experts must hurry to identify and disinfect the many dead.
For Soner Efil, a member of Maichle’s team of Turkish origin, it was a matter of the heart to help after the earthquake that killed tens of thousands in Turkey. “We saw the extent of the catastrophe in Germany on the news, believe me, it’s not easy for us here either,” says the interpreter from Geislingen. “We have sleepless nights, we feel embarrassed when we eat while people are still buried under the rubble.”
The situation on the ground is so bad that Efil can hardly describe it to those back home in Germany. “My mother in Germany calls me and asks me how it’s going. But you can’t describe it in words. I just say: ‘It’s okay, mom’.”
“We work with our hearts”
With their difficult work, Maichle, Efil and their team colleagues relieve other emergency services in the earthquake area and the relatives. In return, they receive a lot of support from the residents of the disaster area. The Turks are “very helpful,” says Maichle. “They bring us water, food.” And he and his team would give something back. “We help with our hearts,” says Maichle.
In view of the Herculean task in the earthquake area, Maichle cannot even think of an end to the voluntary work. “I can’t leave,” he says. “I have a lot to do here.”
According to DeathCare Embalming Team spokesman Daniel Niemeyer, the operation will continue “as long as help is needed” and the safety and supply of the emergency services is ensured. Because working with the many fatalities is “very exhausting” and the emergency services often only get “one to two hours of sleep” at a time, preparations are currently being made to send a second emergency team to replace Maichle’s team, says Niemeyer. It is expected to leave for the disaster area later this week.