A month after the devastating earthquake in southeast Turkey, the head of the country’s AKUT Search and Rescue Association thanked Taiwan for its assistance, while acknowledging that the areas damaged by the quake still face a long road to recovery.
The magnitude 7.8 quake, which struck near the town Gaziantep on the Turkish-Syrian border before dawn on Feb. 6, killed at least 50,000 people and left thousands more injured.
Following the disaster, Taiwan dispatched a team of 130 rescue personnel and five search dogs, while members of the public donated over NT$1.11 billion (US$36.32 million) to a designated account for earthquake relief.
In a recent interview, AKUT Chairperson Zeynep Yosun Akverdi told CNA that Turkey and Taiwan shared a “great bond” dating back to Taiwan’s Sept. 21, 1999 earthquake, when Turkey sent a team of 36 rescue workers, including 17 AKUT volunteers, to assist in rescue operations.
“Because we were there when Taiwanese needed it, now you are here [after] our people in southeast Turkey experienced a very major disaster,” she said, adding that the help her country had received from Taiwan and others was “a huge honor.”
In the wake of the earthquake, Akverdi said, AKUT is fundraising to build two new training centers — one outside of Istanbul and the other in southern Turkey — to train both volunteers and ordinary civilians in earthquake response and first aid techniques.
“Public awareness is so important,” Akverdi said, noting that in many disaster situations, over 90 percent of the live rescues occur within two days, often before major relief operations arrive in the area.
“People who live [in these places] need to know what to do right after an earthquake. This is very important,” she said.
Akverdi said that once the centers are built, she plans to set up an exchange program to allow Turkish and Taiwanese rescue workers to train together, with a focus on learning how to use new equipment and technologies.
In the meantime, she said, the Turkish government, NGOs and the broader public are continuing their efforts to restore basic services in the hundreds of cities and towns damaged in the quake.
Currently, some of the top priorities are getting students back in school and ensuring that the cities are rebuilt with more quake-resistant building materials, she said.
International support will also continue to be needed, both in terms of financial assistance and training in construction techniques, Akverdi said, adding that the reconstruction process “is going to take a long time.”
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel