- Gift of the Givers rescuers saved the life of an 80-year-old woman in Turkey.
- The woman is receiving medical treatment, according to Dr. Qasim Bhorat.
- Bhorat said the woman was dehydrated, but “relatively well.”
Aid organization Gift of the Givers rescued an 80-year-old woman buried under rubble in Turkey after a massive earthquake struck 10 cities in the country a week ago.
The woman was found alive and rescued by the team, which also included the K9 unit and the Omani search and rescue unit.
Rescuers used heavy machinery to dig through the collapsed buildings for more than two hours.
The head of the K9 team, Brigadier Vimla Moodley, told News24 the team was deployed, along with five sniffer dogs.
“One team had two dogs and the other had three.”
It was amazing when the dogs reacted for us and found someone alive because our mission here was to find living victims instead of dead bodies. This is an unfortunate and devastating situation. Buildings with 900 occupants fell, and all we can see are layers of each floor.
Moodley said desperate families, searching for their loved ones, approached the team for help and often all they could find were deceased members.
“Some families want closure…we help by using the dogs and that way the bodies are removed and given to the families,” he said.
Dr. Qasim Bhorat, one of the rescuers on the team, told News24 that the woman was dehydrated although she was “relatively well”.
He said the team had removed several bodies of deceased people before K9 dogs directed them at the woman.
She was doing relatively well after being trapped under rubble for eight days. It’s a surreal feeling. We watch the videos now and cry because that is our purpose. Finding someone and getting them out is miraculous, and it has lifted the spirits of the team to the point that we will push again tomorrow. It is never too late. People are told that no one can survive past day six, and yet we found one person alive.
Bhorat said the experience of rescuing people under the rubble was emotional.
“It’s a bit heartbreaking to see bodies disfigured, mangled and in disrepair. Finding someone alive has shot us in the arm, while that window is still there,” he said.
The organization’s founder and president, Imtiaz Sooliman, said: “Congratulations to the team for bringing someone out alive several days after the earthquake. When we work together, as a call to humanity, to human beings, there is always success. We are hopeful that more people alive will be [found] in the building.”
More than 35,000 people have died in Turkey and Syria after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked the country last week.
The Turkish ambassador to South Africa, Aysegül Kandas, told News24 that the quake was “the biggest disaster of the century”, according to her government.
The disaster covers 10 cities with a population of around 15 million. The number of people directly affected is 3.5 million. Hospitals and cities are demolished, and cities are wiped off the map.
Kandas said the recent Gift of the Givers rescue has restored hope that more living bodies could be found.
The country had received assistance from more than 10,000 doctors and rescuers from 100 countries.
Kandas said the country’s list of needs was constantly changing.
Among the necessary elements are mobile toilets, sleeping bags, generators, gas heaters and winter tents, among others.
