Women volunteers brave separation from families, winter chill to search for Turkish quake survivors

By Riyaz ul Khaliq and Omer Sercan Karkus

KAHRAMANMARAS, Türkiye (AA) – “These are tears of joy,” exclaimed Elif, a woman volunteer from the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul, part of a larger volunteer group searching for any survivors in the aftermath of two major earthquakes that hit Türkiye early on Monday.

“They may not be from our blood relations,” Elif, thirtyish, told Anadolu in the main city of the southern province of Kahramanmaras on Thursday night, gesturing to victims of the quakes.

“But we’re happy and at times we cry when we succeed in pulling out survivors from under the rubble of the damaged buildings,” said Elif, sitting with colleagues around the wood fire and occasionally sipping Turkish tea, which helps keep them warm from the January chill.

Around 350 volunteers from Türkiye’s Justice Ministry have been involved in search and rescue operation in the provinces of Kahramanmaras, Hatay, and Adiyaman since Monday. The volunteers include women, and Elif is the leader of those deployed in this province.

The volunteers are employees of the ministry who have also received four weeks of training for emergency situations and are accredited to Türkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD).

The group across the three provinces has successfully rescued at least 39 people from under the debris of the damaged buildings.

“Twenty-nine of the people were rescued in Kahramanmaras,” the group’s leader, who asked not to be named, told Anadolu.

“It’s an honor for us to be able to serve our people during this time of need,” he said while his team members asked about nearby apartment buildings where people are feared trapped.

The volunteers work in shifts. The search and rescue operation has not stopped since they were deployed soon after the earthquakes hit the country on Monday.

“We have families, and many of us have children, but this duty also brings of tears of joy and happiness when we find survivors,” Elif added.

- 'Search for survivors continues'

A few hundred meters away, search and rescue workers from Bursa, northwestern Türkiye, , are trying to warm up to continue their mission.

“We came on Monday night and have been searching for survivors,” said one worker from a local Bursa municipality.

When asked whether he is tired, the worker, who asked not to be named, said: “We rest for four to five hours a day but our teams aren’t stopping the work until the search lights are off.”

City workers from around Türkiye have gathered in Kahramanmaras and other earthquake-hit provinces to aid search and rescue operations. Vehicles are lined up around the city center carrying volunteers, search equipment, and relief goods for the devastated zone.

Wood fires are lit across major parts of the city, where silence is broken by the noise of concrete breakers engaged in a round-the-clock search for quake survivors.

Over 18,300 people were killed and 74,200 injured in the twin quakes which hit southern parts of Türkiye, according to the latest official figures.

A total of 6,444 buildings collapsed due to the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude quakes, which took place in the space of less than 10 hours.

Türkiye has declared a three-month state of emergency in 10 provinces hit by the earthquakes.

The quakes, centered in the Kahramanmaras province, affected more than 13 million people across 10 provinces, also including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

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

More than 121,100 search and rescue personnel are currently working in the field, according to AFAD.

A total of 75,780 people were evacuated from quake-hit regions, AFAD said.