A building collapsed during an earthquake in the Turkish city of Kahta, Adiyaman province, on February 6, 2023.
Adiyaman (Turkey)/Prague/Ankara/Damasek – Czech rescuers in the Turkish city of Adiyaman have rescued 12 more victims of Monday's earthquake from the rubble since Friday. Together, they have so far recovered 32 bodies from the wreckage, rescued two survivors and assisted colleagues from another team in rescuing a woman. Today they should end the intervention in the two buildings they have been searching since Tuesday. In the place where Czech rescuers operate in Turkey, the security situation is fine, there are no conflicts. Czech fire department spokesman Jakub Kozák told ČTK. On the contrary, the Austrian and German rescuers stopped the rescue work due to safety concerns. Shots were also heard at the deployment site. Turkey has already registered 21,043 victims of the earthquake. In neighboring Syria, there are a total of 3,553 dead, the total balance of the disaster is thus close to 25,000 victims.
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Photogallery: Earthquake in Turkey and Syria
“In the city of Adiyaman, roads are mostly passable, electricity and water remain unavailable. The team is in good health,” the spokesman said. In response to the suspended rescue work of the Austrians and Germans, he said that the security situation in the city of Adiyaman is fine and there are no conflicts.
Members of the Czech USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) team specialized in searching for people in the rubble began searching two buildings with an area of approximately 40 by 40 meters in Adiyaman on Tuesday evening. “Today we plan to end the intervention in them. The coordinator will then discuss the further deployment of the team,” said Kozák.
Rescuers are still searching the wreckage of the houses, while the chances of finding survivors are decreasing, also due to the low night temperatures. In Syria, search and humanitarian operations are complicated by the complex domestic political and security situation. Access to regions under the control of insurgent groups is especially difficult.
In the past, the Czech USAR team abroad helped in the past, for example, in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2020 after an explosion in the port, which claimed the lives of two hundred people and injured another 6,000. In the Czech team at that time, along with firefighters, there were also cynologists with dogs, a structural engineer and a doctor.< /p>
Austrians end deployment in Turkey, fear for security
Austrian and German rescuers have suspended rescue operations after Monday's devastating earthquake in Turkey. The security situation in the place where they worked is deteriorating, and they are therefore worried about their safety. This is reported by the APA agency with reference to the lieutenant colonel of the Austrian army Pierre Kugelweis and the DPA agency.
Aggressiveness is increasing among local groups and, according to Kugelweis, shots were also heard at the place of deployment of the Austrian experts. The risk for rescuers is too high and the hope of saving other human lives is relatively small, Kugelweise was quoted by the APA agency.
Austrian soldiers and German rescuers are now at the base of their operation in Hatay province with other international organizations and are awaiting instructions. The base is located in the town of Kirikhan, about 50 kilometers from the Syrian border.
A total of 82 soldiers from the special unit of the Austrian army have been helping to pull survivors from the rubble since Tuesday. So far, nine people have managed to dig themselves out of the rubble. But they stopped the rescue work from Saturday morning. However, they are not scheduled to return to Austria until Thursday, according to the APA agency, nothing has changed yet.
“We are all fine,” said Kugelweis. According to him, the mood among the helpers is reasonably good for the circumstances. “We would like to continue helping, but the circumstances are what they are,” he added.
The security situation has improved in the past hours worsened in the province of Hatay, the German Agency for Technical Assistance (THW) and the humanitarian organization I.S.A.R Germany also told DPA. both companies said.
“You can see that the sadness is slowly giving way to anger,” said I.S.A.R. operations manager Steven Bayer. Tamara Schwarz, spokeswoman for the THW headquarters in Bonn, spoke of “tumultuous scenes”.
The protection of volunteers is now a priority, according to them. The teams remain in place.
If there are concrete indications that someone can be saved alive, we will go anyway, THW spokeswoman Katharina Garrecht told DPA at the scene.
Turkey reports hundreds more victims, even with Syria, the balance exceeded 24,000 dead
Turkey has already registered 20,665 dead after Monday's strong earthquake. Referring to the Turkish Agency for Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD), Reuters reports about this. In neighboring Syria, the government and the opposition, which control parts of the divided country, reported a total of 3,553 deaths on Friday, bringing the total death toll from the disaster to over 24,000.
Turkish authorities recorded around 450 more deaths overnight. AFAD added that almost 93,000 people have been evacuated from the affected zone in the south of Turkey and that over 166,000 workers are involved in crisis operations. A team of Czech rescuers is also working in the area, who rescued two survivors from the rubble of collapsed houses in the city of Adiyaman on Friday morning.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake and hundreds of aftershocks mainly affected the south of Turkey, but they were also felt northwest Syria. Rescuers are still searching through the wreckage of homes as the chances of finding survivors dwindle, even given the cold overnight temperatures.
In Syria, search and humanitarian operations are complicated by the complex domestic political and security situation. Access to regions under the control of insurgent groups is particularly difficult. Even there, aid in the form of tents and blankets is already on its way, but according to the rescue organization White Helmets, which operates in the areas, it is still completely insufficient. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated on Friday that up to 5.3 million people have been left homeless by the earthquake in Syria.
Erdogan: The government will take action against looting in earthquake-affected areas
The government will crack down on people involved in looting and other crimes in areas affected by the devastating earthquake in Turkey this week. According to Reuters, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced this during a visit to the affected area today.
“We have declared a state of emergency,” Erdogan said during a visit to the disaster area. “This means that from now on, people involved in looting or kidnapping should know that the firm hand of the law applies to them,” the Turkish president said. But it was not clear what kidnapping cases he was referring to, the agencies warned.
Safety in the earthquake zone came into focus after the Austrian army and German rescue organizations suspended work there today. They cited an “increasingly difficult security situation” and concerns about the safety of rescue workers.
Erdogan also said that hundreds of thousands of buildings were uninhabitable in southern Turkey and that authorities would soon begin the rebuilding process. “We planned to rebuild hundreds of thousands of buildings,” he said. “Within a few weeks, we will start taking concrete steps,” said the Turkish president.
