Medical teams from 4 countries gather in Adana to aid Türkiye’s quake relief operations

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ADANA, Türkiye (AA) – Specialist medical teams are accompanying search and rescue personnel from around the world to Türkiye to help victims of the earthquakes that struck the southern part of the country Monday.

Adana Airport is witnessing an uneven influx as the center point for international arrivals mostly from Istanbul Airport, with flights carrying international search and rescue teams along with medical corps.

Several flights from Hungary have arrived since Tuesday carrying search and rescue teams.

“Around 100 members of search and rescue teams have arrived from Hungary, and most of them have reached Hatay province," a member of the group who wished to remain anonymous told Anadolu.

Similar teams from Romania carrying rescue personnel have arrived in Türkiye to join the relief operations.

A team member from Russia told Anadolu he is among a group of 10 medical specialists who flew in from Moscow on Wednesday.

“We were accompanied by search and rescue personnel…Many had come yesterday, and many more are coming on Thursday,” said the doctor, who did not share his name.

An 82-member Chinese search and rescue team also arrived early Wednesday and drove to Hatay province, a Chinese diplomat accompanying the team told Anadolu.

The team arrived in the southern province by bus in the afternoon.

The team is carrying tools and four sniffer dogs for search and rescue operations besides medicine and food.

Other teams have arrived in Istanbul for deployment to quake-hit provinces, he added.

At least 9,057 people were killed and 52,979 injured after 7.7 and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes shook Pazarcık and Elbistan districts Monday in Türkiye’s Kahramanmaras province.

The quakes were also felt in nearby countries, including Syria and Lebanon.

A total of 6,444 buildings in Türkiye collapsed due to the quakes, which occurred in the space of fewer than 10 hours.

Türkiye has declared a three-month state of emergency in the 10 provinces hit by the earthquakes.

Seismologists have described the initial earthquake as "the worst inland shallow earthquake" since at least 2000.

Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa provinces were heavily hit by the quakes.

Türkiye’s disaster management agency, AFAD, said the quakes were followed by 243 aftershocks.