Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue off to Turkey to help with earthquake relief | 24CA News
The Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue Team is heading to Turkey to assist in the aftermath of the lethal earthquakes that devastated Turkey and northern Syria on Monday.
As of Tuesday, the dying toll from the 7.8 and seven.5 magnitude earthquakes and a number of aftershocks is now at the very least 7,000 and the variety of injured is estimated to be within the tens of hundreds.
It’s one of the vital highly effective earthquakes to hit the area in a century and the frigid climate is complicating the seek for survivors.
Armed with medical and rescue gear, 10 volunteers with BSAR are making the 15-hour flight hoping to help in restoration efforts and seek for buried victims.
“We are all volunteers. The reason we are doing this is because we feel lucky to live where we are, and so when we see stuff like this, we want to help,” stated Ryan Berry with BUSAR.
“We’re a technical search team. We have equipment that can help locate buried victims that have been trapped in collapsed rubble. We’re bringing a whole bunch of first aid equipment. We have some recovery equipment, some water, basic supplies and some technical rescue equipment.”
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The group was beforehand dispatched to Nepal after the 7.6 magnitude earthquake in 2015, which killed about 9,000 individuals and injured 100,000 others.
They additionally travelled to the Bahamas within the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
Berry says the group just isn’t certain but precisely the place in Turkey they are going to be assigned — however time is of the essence.
“I think there are six or seven major city centres that are really struggling for help, (we will) probably be assigned there and meet with the local people in charge and they will assign us.”
Most of them are firefighters from Burnaby and one is from White Rock.
It’s estimated greater than 5,700 buildings have collapsed in Turkey, and it’s now a race towards time as the worldwide neighborhood gives help for a large rescue effort.
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Meanwhile, different volunteers like Shawn Mohammed are placing their house life on maintain to assist with the restoration.
“I am leaving my five-year-old’s birthday but I promised him a couple of really good transformers when I get back,” he stated.
“I have a really understanding wife and kids so they know this is the right thing to do.”
After being given the inexperienced gentle by the Turkish Consulate, the Burnaby USAR will likely be taking off tonight (Monday) and will likely be there for every week, returning on Feb. 14th.
“What we witness is that the destruction, what happened in one day it’s like it’s like a war zone and it happened overnight,” stated Mehmet Taylan Tokmak with the Turkish Consulate General in Vancouver.
“Right now even the remaining buildings are collapsing. But (the volunteers) make me so happy. (It is) encouraging and it makes me so emotional at the same time.”
Turkish Airlines can also be carrying 11 pallets and two tonnes of donations collected in simply sooner or later from the native Turkish neighborhood.
— with information from Catherine Garrett, Global News
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
