Very difficult to organize help after disaster as vast as Türkiye quakes, says French rescuer

By Mustafa Deveci and Alaattin Dogru

HATAY, Türkiye (AA) – Organizing relief efforts after such major disasters is very difficult, according to a French rescue official working in Türkiye’s southern quake-hit Hatay province.

“It is hard to know where to send the rescue teams,” Cyrille Chauveau, deputy leader of a French team deployed in Antakya, told Anadolu.

“We must organize fast and focus on the rescue operations. We must race against time during such vast disasters.”

Sending immediate help to every spot in such a big disaster is “very difficult,” he emphasized.

Chauveau was part of a 73-member team that arrived in Türkiye on Feb. 7, going first to Osmaniye before moving to Hatay on Feb. 9.

“When we got here, it felt like a bombed city in a war zone,” he said.

“Turkish people have been very friendly toward us and showed their hospitality. Offering them our help has been an honor. We really felt their friendship,” he said, reaffirming France’s support for Türkiye and its people.

The team, however, regrets being unable to pull out anyone alive, he added.

On Feb. 6, two powerful earthquakes struck southern Türkiye, centered in Kahramanmaras and shaking nine other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

The death toll has now climbed over 35,400, with thousands more injured.

Felt in several countries, the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 tremors also caused massive destruction in northern Syria, where more than 3,500 lives have been lost.

* Writing by Nur Asena Erturk in Ankara