Watch the video: Earthquake in Turkey – German team saves woman from rubble.
STORY: According to experts, it’s a race against time. And the full extent of the catastrophe in the earthquake area in south-east Turkey on the border with Syria is not yet foreseeable. The search and rescue operations have been in full swing since the early Monday morning when the earth shook with great strength and for a relatively long period of time and was also hit by many aftershocks. Among the international aid organizations is a team from the German rescue service ISAR, which arrived at its southern Turkish site of Kırıkhan on Tuesday and found a picture of the devastation – but was also immediately successful: Michael Lesmeister, deputy head of operations at ISAR: “Great. I mean, do it for it That. We started cooperating with our partner organization ISAR-Turkey two and a half years ago. The first mission, the first damage site, then we saved the woman together, yes, that’s all we can do.” And the wintry weather conditions make the work even more difficult. Emergency shelters have been set up in Malatya, around 300 kilometers to the north-east. “The damage after this earthquake is incredible. In Cavusoglu, 10-15 buildings collapsed. We lost our relatives. The rescue workers are still trying to get people out of the rubble and we are not allowed to enter the houses. Last night we were in our cars. We’re a family of four. There were six of us living in our house with my in-laws.” The willingness to donate in Germany is great. In Berlin, funds were immediately collected for the earthquake areas. Melek Erkut, helper: “We have two Turkish Airlines planes. One has already taken off and we have twelve trucks, two are already on the way. They left yesterday evening and now another big, huge truck will arrive in an hour. ” Sahin Ürgün, helper: “Yes, like in Turkey, we want to help those who are in need right now and we leave them very cold. We need clothes, we no longer have an apartment, live on the streets, are on the streets, try to help. And of course we try to support them.” According to the authorities, 13.5 million people are affected in Turkey. The area stretches over 450 kilometers in the country from Adana in the west to Diyarbakir in the east and over 300 kilometers from Malatya in the north to Hatay in the south. The situation in Syria is much more confusing because it is a country at war. The officially reported number of victims is constantly increasing and is already in the thousands. According to experts, the number of deaths is likely to continue to rise significantly. An earthquake of similar magnitude in 1999 killed more than 17,000 people.