'First time in my life': Russian rescue leader weighs in on scale of Türkiye quakes

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

KAHRAMANMARAS, Türkiye (AA) – Expressing condolences to the people of Türkiye, which was hit by twin earthquakes last week, the leader of the Russian search and rescue team said he had not seen a disaster of such "scale" in his life.

Chupriyan Aleksandr, a senior Russian official who oversaw Moscow's search and rescue operations in the southern provinces of Kahramanmaras and Hatay, told Anadolu that his country suffered a large earthquake on the Sakhalin Islands in the early 1990s but not on the scale of the two quakes that jolted Türkiye.

"But the scale like this, no ... this is the first time in my life," said Aleksandr, first deputy minister of Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations.

He spoke to Anadolu at a closing ceremony of his unit of almost 200 personnel before they flew home on Wednesday. They had spent the past nine days in Hatay and Kahramanmaras, the epicenter of the two devastating quakes that caused over 35,000 deaths and leveled thousands of buildings across 10 southern provinces.

These earthquakes have caused "a wide-scale disaster" in Türkiye, Aleksandr said via an interpreter.

"In Russia, we have many regions with same seismological activities, so we understand it," he said.

"This is not first time for Russian rescuers to take part in such operations," said Aleksandr, who holds the rank of colonel-general in the Russian military.

The Russian official said his team managed to pull six survivors from the rubble and retrieve the bodies of 100 victims in the two provinces.

Besides these efforts, he said the Russian team had also set up a field hospital with 40 doctors.

"They managed to help almost 800 people, including 320 children," he added.

Aleksandr also credited Russia's crew of sniffer dogs in finding people under the rubble, saying that they were "very effective."

Almost 70% of survival cases were because of the K9 crews, he said.

Wishing a quick recovery for Türkiye after the earthquakes, Aleksandr said the Russian team was taking home "so many words of thanks from the citizens of Türkiye and we really appreciate it."

He also praised Turker Fatih Celik, a Turkish official coordinating with international rescue teams at the event.

The Russians were among thousands of foreign personnel from 100 nations who flew into Türkiye to participate in the rescue of the trapped people.

Over 35,000 people were killed, while tens of thousands of others were injured in the two earthquakes, affecting more than 13 million people across the provinces of Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

Besides rescue teams, blankets, tents, food, and psychological support teams, along with over 12,300 vehicles, including excavators, tractors, and bulldozers, were also sent to the affected areas.

More than 227,762 tents, 2.6 million blankets, and 48,271 containers have been sent to the 10 worst-hit provinces, according to the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD).

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last Friday that the country was facing one of the biggest disasters in its modern history.

Condolences have poured in from around the world expressing solidarity with Türkiye, with many countries sending rescue teams and aid.