Earthquake Emergency Relief
“Incredibly exhausting”: rescue teams from Turkey back
Six-year-old Nephete meets her dad at Cologne airport. Several search and rescue teams from Germany have returned home after days of deployment in the earthquake region of Turkey – and are greeted by cheering people. photo
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
For days, German rescue teams searched for survivors in the rubble of the Turkish earthquake area – with success. “That makes us very proud,” says one helper after her return.
Applause, flowers and chocolates for the helpers: Several search and rescue teams from Germany have returned home after days of work in the earthquake region of Turkey. Yesterday evening, a plane with almost 100 emergency services from the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) and the aid organizations ISAR Germany and BRH Federal Association of Rescue Dogs landed at Cologne/Bonn Airport. When they arrived, they were greeted with loud cheers by family members, comrades and Turks living in Germany.
“We just want to say thank you personally,” says Cansu Güler, who came with roses. “My homeland helps our homeland, that’s so wonderful. We were born and raised here, but Turkey is also our homeland.” Gülsah Demirhan and two friends hold a German and a Turkish flag next to each other. “I have many friends in the earthquake area,” says Demirhan. “We feel a deep bond with the rescue teams. We just want to show that with this gesture.”
“Glad we could contribute”
They form a trellis with many other people when the rescuers enter the arrivals hall two hours later than expected. A girl holds a sign that reads, “Welcome! You are the best daddy in the world!” – before it falls into its father’s arms.
THW operations manager Jörg Eger is also looking forward to his family. “It was a strenuous operation with great challenges,” he says. “But we are happy that we were able to make a contribution and relieved that we all came back healthy.” The THW team arrived in Turkey on Wednesday with four dogs and 16 tons of equipment. On the night of Sunday, together with Turkish helpers, an 88-year-old was saved alive from the rubble in the earthquake area.
The team from the organizations ISAR and BRH, based in North Rhine-Westphalia, have been on duty in Kirikhan with seven dogs since last Tuesday and, according to their own statements, rescued four people alive from the rubble. Among them was a woman who was freed from a collapsed building in a rescue operation that lasted around 50 hours.
“The scale of what happened was simply unimaginable”
Emergency doctor Daniel Lankers, who had repeatedly encouraged the buried 40-year-old, was cheered and celebrated particularly loudly by those waiting when he arrived in Cologne/Bonn. However, the woman died in hospital after being rescued.
Astrid Kalff from ISAR kept sending her dog Hope over the rubble. “The mission was incredibly exhausting, the scale of what happened was simply unimaginable. The probability of finding anyone alive was extremely low,” she says. “But in the end our team saved four lives – that makes us very proud.”