Weeks after coming back from operations to rescue earthquake victims in southern Türkiye, Greek rescuers mirrored on the honest help of the Turkish folks and authorities.
“I, as a senior rescuer and an engineer, want to emphasize that I never witnessed such a devastating disaster,” stated Konstantinos Nikas, a member of Greece’s elite EMAK rescue unit, which saved at the least 5 folks within the southernmost Hatay province, one of many worst-hit by highly effective back-to-back tremors on Feb. 6 that claimed over 46,100 lives.
Speaking to Anadolu, Nikas stated they had been in shut coordination with the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) from the very first hours of the catastrophe.
Both Turkish authorities within the space, together with the navy, police, hearth division, in addition to the native inhabitants, embraced the staff from Greece, offering any sort of help they wanted, Nikas stated.
“Locals shared everything they had with us. They served us homemade dishes, hot tea, and desserts,” he recounted. “I now have so many beautiful and heart-warming memories with me from Türkiye.”
Reiterating that his staff, like different international and Turkish rescue items, needed to work below very tough circumstances for lengthy hours, he remarked that the hassle was each “physiologically and emotionally demanding.”
“Rescue work is much more than breaking the stones, removing the rubble, and pulling survivors out,” Nikas stated.
The wrestle was effectively value it, although, he stated, for each life that they saved from below the particles of collapsed buildings after what can usually be many hours of exertion.
Nikas additionally emphasised that pure disasters are “bigger than states” making shut cooperation between nations all of the extra essential in coping with them.
One of his teammates, Panagiotis Giannopoulos, struck the same be aware, saying: “We can’t do everything on our own. There are often situations that require us to ask for help from our neighbors.”
Emphasizing that humanity will at all times have to deal with pure disasters, Giannopoulos stated they mobilized to help the catastrophe response effort quickly after the earthquakes occurred.
Turkish and Greek authorities responded swiftly and effectively, permitting EMAK to be the primary international rescue staff on the bottom within the Turkish catastrophe zone.
Giannopoulos additionally underscored the function of the worldwide catastrophe response mechanism, together with the European Civil Protection Mechanism, wherein each Türkiye and Greece are members, including that the earthquake response served as additional proof of its significance and performance.
The magnitude 7.7 and seven.6 quakes, centered in Kahramanmaras, rocked 11 provinces, together with Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Elazığ, and Şanlıurfa.
Around 13.5 million folks in Türkiye have been affected, in addition to many others in northwestern Syria.
Source: www.anews.com.tr
