Rescue dogs central to rescue efforts in quake-hit southern Türkiye

By Emre Basaran and Rabia Ali

ANKARA (AA) - Amid the piles of debris and concrete slabs lying all around Türkiye's southern Hatay province, a special dog named Angel managed to make a difference, and saved lives – nearly a dozen after last week's deadly quakes hit the region.

“We directly saved 11 people from the rubble in Hatay. Angel also helped direct search and rescue crews to locations where it located people who were trapped,” Mustafa Yorganci, who works for the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), told Anadolu.

After 7.7 and 7.6 twin earthquakes struck southern Türkiye last week – toppling buildings, uprooting structures, and destroying lives – specially trained dogs from within the country, as well as from other countries, proved to be vital in rescue and search operations, saving scores of people in dire straits.

Yorganci, from the IHH search and rescue team, said they had three dogs in the quake zone. While he and Angel were in Hatay, Türkiye’s southernmost region, two other canine teams were in Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras.

Yorganci said these dogs undergo special training, and some dog breeds are especially favored for these duties.

“Even though they may hail from different breeds, they are often called K9,” he explained, using an abbreviation said like “canine,” or doglike.

“German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois are special favorites for K9 training,” he added.

In the quake-affected region, Turkish NGOs and rescue departments currently have 38 search and rescue dogs who boast specialized training to help rescue living people in disaster areas.

“No technology can rival a dog’s nose,” Yorganci stressed. “Dogs can sense living people in an area of 50 square meters (538 square feet).”

A person trapped under rubble and doing nothing more than breathing can be enough for specially trained dogs to react and so direct search and rescue crews to their exact location, he explained.

- Good dogs, good news

“As the (search) area was very large, we were always on the move,” Yorganci added, saying that when they were in locations where Angel spotted living people trapped inside, this was normally “good news,” as they could later be saved from the rubble by rescue crews the dog alerted.

Rescue teams from other countries were also carrying out search operations with the help of rescue sniffer dogs. The EU, for instance, with some 1,450 rescuers, had sent over 100 search dogs to affected areas.

The Swiss Association for Search and Rescue Dogs, also known as REDOG, sent its dog teams for rescue, including 14 of the super sniffers. Working in cooperation with GEA – an all-volunteer Turkish search and rescue, ecology, and humanitarian aid group – REDOG and the Swiss teams managed to rescue a mother and her baby from under the rubble.

The dogs working for this group are specially trained for locating buried or missing persons in natural disasters, collapses, or explosions.

Other successful stories of canine rescues include Alpha, the GEA search and rescue dog, who rescued 20 people and provided major assistance in search and rescue teams in Kahramamaras, the center of last week’s quakes.

Killian, a 6-year-old golden retriever, saved 17 lives by locating people trapped inside the rubble. According to the Swedish media, the dog assisted the Swedish search and rescue team.

Over the weekend, a dog named Proteo died after being severely injured in the line of duty. Assisting Mexican military teams, the German shepherd rescued two people from under the rubble. The Mexican government paid him tribute and called him heroic.

He was one of 16 dogs who arrived with the Mexican team to assist with the search operations, and his sacrifice will not be forgotten.