US team continuing rescue efforts in quake-hit Türkiye

By Mesut Varol and Muslum Etgu

VAN, Türkiye (AA) – A disaster-assistance response team from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been racing to save lives in quake-hit Türkiye.

After Ankara declared a level 4 alert state including an international call for help after last Monday’s quakes, countries across the globe such as the US sent rescue teams to Türkiye for quake victims.

“USAID sent 160 search and rescue personnel along with 12 search dogs here at the request of the Turkish government. We've been conducting search and rescue operations since we arrived about two days ago,” John C. Morrison, director of planning at USAID, told Anadolu on Saturday in the Adiyaman province.

Sent from Los Angeles, California, the team is doing rescue operations in southern Adiyaman, one of the provinces hardest hit by the quakes.

Morrison added they are still optimistic that survivors may be found and so are still working under that assumption to go and rescue people trapped inside collapsed buildings.

“Every time we have interacted with the Turkish people, they have been kind and welcoming and we are humbled by their resilience after this disaster. We look forward to supporting the Turks through this search and rescue operation and we will be here as long as necessary to continue search and rescue,” he added.

In Türkiye, over 24,600 people were killed and over 80,000 others wounded after magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes struck 10 southern provinces on Feb. 6, affecting around 13 million people, according to the latest official figures.

The earthquakes hit Kahramanmaras and nine other provinces, namely Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the strong tremors.

* Writing by Seda Sevencan​​​​​​​