earthquake region
Hope and sorrow: exhausted helpers in Turkey
The German rescue dog handler Uwe Elze with his dog Pia on the edge of a rubble field in Kahramanmaras. photo
© Boris Roessler/dpa
Helpers in the earthquake region give their all in the fight against the catastrophe. They still cling to the hope of saving people alive after seven days. The German helpers on site are also struggling with despair.
Uwe Elze is sitting in front of the rubble of a residential building in the city of Kahramanmaras. Next to him is his completely exhausted search dog Pia. It’s about to start again. Tears run down Elze’s cheeks when he talks about the experiences of the last few days: “We are all one big human family. We should all take that to heart,” he says and puts his hand on his heart.
The dog has already found 60 survivors in the rubble. The joy then is indescribable. And dead? He’s stopped counting. Elze also lacks the words for this. For days he has been fluctuating between “despair, hope and bewilderment”.
When Uwe Elze heard about the earthquake from the news, the dog trainer from Celle immediately volunteered at the Turkish consulate. Twelve hours later he is on the plane. “The organization on site is indescribably good.” Since then there has hardly been any time for sleep. In the morning he wakes up in his tent with a frozen hat. Elze is one of more than 100,000 volunteers who traveled to the earthquake region.
One of the rescued is Fatma-Nur. The two and a half year old lay under the rubble for 56 hours. For two days they feared for the little girl, says the father. He and his wife could have gotten out of the rubble in two hours, but they could not get to the only daughter, who helpers later found in the rubble under her bed, without help.
Was it helpers who saved Fatma-Nur? The demarcation between helpers and victims blur on site. Everyone who can tackles. Fathers, mothers and aunts of the dead stand in the rubble and continue to search for relatives of neighbours, friends or complete strangers.
Enze can hardly believe the “solidarity, cordiality and gratitude” of the local people. “What we receive from the people impresses me a lot.” There was also a lot of help during the Ahr Valley disaster, but here in Kahramanmaras, it’s indescribable. “The people here hug us.” Again and again food for the bitch would be brought to them without them asking for it.
Tuncay Ilker also experienced the solidarity. The chef from Istanbul is sitting on the back of a large truck in the center of the devastated city, stirring lentil soup in a gigantic cauldron. People would have lost everything and would still want to share what little they have with everyone.
The smell in the air of the city, which used to have 800,000 inhabitants, reveals that many more are buried under the rubble. No one knows how many of them survived. Some helpers are already leaving, others are coming back or arriving again. Turkish Airlines said goodbye to German helpers with roses at Istanbul Airport on Sunday evening, as a spokesman reported. Every day of the catastrophe brings new challenges, and they are by no means getting smaller.
Bremen-based Morteza Eshghparast from the Dunya association wants to ensure that help continues even if it recedes into the background for many people in Germany. “We want to provide long-term support.” Tears come to him too. He himself recovered several dead. “But we have to keep a clear head so that we can help.”
Even after an incredible seven days, survivors are still being found. It is undisputed that at some point one will be the last – also that the heaps of rubble will eventually be excavated with machines. What that means for the people who hope to at least find the bodies of their families or friends in front of the mountains of rubble is hard to imagine. Enze and the dog Pia are not thinking about leaving, at least not yet.