İlhan, “The Happiness of Saving a Life from Hell's Pit Can't Be Told”
Muğla Metropolitan Municipality search and rescue teams, who left the earthquake area with the start of the debris removal work in Hatay, explained what they experienced. Yavuz İlhan, a part of the team that pulled 28 people out of the rubble alive, said, “Everything we saw in Hatay was destroyed. We said what a hell hole we are in. However, the happiness of saving a life from this pit cannot be described.”
While many citizens lost their lives in the earthquake, which was one of the biggest disasters in the history of Turkey and affected 10 provinces, many miracles were also witnessed. Undoubtedly, search and rescue teams are at the forefront of those who realize these miracles. Muğla Metropolitan Municipality search and rescue teams, who have been in the disaster area since the first moment of the earthquake and removed 28 people alive from under the rubble, returned to Muğla due to the start of the debris removal works in the region. The teams returning from the disaster area told about their experiences.
Kalkan, “Aftershocks Happened While Working Under The 8-Storey Building”
Münyamin Kalkan, one of the search and rescue team working in the Electric District of the Defne district of Hatay, compared the situation in the region to hell and said, “It was like a war zone. Aftershocks continued to occur while working under the 8-story building. The building was heavily damaged and was likely to collapse. Although we had training and experience, risky studies were intense. Kalkan said, “When we arrived at the earthquake area, we saw that there was a great disaster. It was like a battlefield. It was like hell. Sounds were coming out from under every rubble. We started the rescue work. We rescued a baby and a middle-aged person on the first day. We had the biggest problem in coordination and communication. People could not reach each other. If there were transportation and communication, things would be different. As time passed, our hopes dwindled. We worked under 7-storey 8-storey buildings. There were constant tremors. Despite these tremors, we went out and went under the buildings again. Although the work area carries a lot of risk, we tried to remove our citizens who were under the rubble.
Öztürk, “We did not lose hope, we released Rabia at the 152nd Hour”
Murat Can Öztürk, who worked as a Sergeant in Muğla Metropolitan Municipality Ortaca Fire Department, said that he had never witnessed such a disaster before, and that they were working hard to keep people alive even though the disaster was huge. We moved to the Hatay region right after the earthquake. When we reached the scene, we saw how big the disaster was. We heard the cries and cries of the people. Buildings had been razed to the ground. I saw the Gölcük earthquake before. This is the first time I encountered such. There was no electricity, no water communication in the area. We started to remove the remnants under the rubble. There is no citizen left that we could not find and remove as a team. We reached out to a 19-year-old friend named Emre. After 12 hours of work, we pulled it out of the wreckage. There were aftershocks at this time. We removed 28 of our citizens from the debris. The last time we reached a 29-year-old friend named Rabia, he said, at the 152nd hour.
İlhan, “The Happiness of Saving a Life from Hell's Pit Can't Be Told”
Another hero, Yavuz İlhan, who works in the Milas Fire Brigade Group Chief, said, “The first day we entered Hatay, we said how we are in the pit of hell. There is no building that has not been demolished. Everything we saw was destroyed. In the building we entered on the first day, we removed a 1,5-year-old baby after 2,5 hours of work. We handed it over to her mother. It is impossible to describe the happiness of saving a life. Getting that baby out of there gave us strength and inspiration. With the power of saving the baby, we rescued the other wounded from the rubble. There were risky buildings. There were buildings on its side. These buildings were destroyed in the aftershocks,” he said.
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