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Swiss helpers after the earthquake – Redog saves 28 people alive from the rubble in Turkey – News

9 February 2023

The Swiss rescue dog organization Redog, together with the Turkish rescue organization GEA, has so far rescued 28 people alive from the rubble in Turkey.
In view of the “huge destruction and the incredibly difficult rescue operation”, this is a good number, according to Redog.
However, the hope of recovering more survivors 72 hours after the devastating catastrophe is sinking.

People trapped under the rubble in Turkey and Syria have been waiting for more than three days. With each day that passes, it becomes increasingly unlikely that they can still be rescued alive.

The main problems for those buried are the lack of water and food, as well as the low temperatures below freezing, says Linda Hornisberger, Redog’s head of the search for buried victims. She coordinates the rescue operation in Turkey for the organization.

Redog is deployed in Turkey with 22 people and 14 dogs. One squadron is looking for survivors with the Swiss rescue chain in Günyazi, a second with the partner organization GEA in the southern Turkish city of Iskenderun on the border with Syria.

Four-legged friends are well prepared

The 14 search dogs used are trained to react specifically to living people. The animals felt the strain of the strenuous search for survivors, but the four-legged friends were well prepared for such operations, it was said at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.

Some dogs suffered minor injuries from glass splinters lying around. For such cases, a veterinarian is on duty at Redog. The search for people buried in Iskenderun is already the third joint mission for Redog with the Turkish organization GEA, as Hornisberger says.

The two rescue organizations had previously worked together to search for people buried in earthquakes in Nepal and Albania.

In addition to the Swiss rescue dog organization Redog, 87 rescue workers and eight search dogs from the Swiss rescue chain are deployed in Turkey. In the province of Hatay, around 40 kilometers further south, the specialists rescued nine people from the rubble by Thursday afternoon.

At the weekend, around ten additional specialists in the fields of medicine and accommodation are to travel to Turkey. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (Deza) intends to continue its support even after the emergency aid phase has ended.

The Syrian government had also submitted a request for help to Switzerland, as confirmed by the EDA. But for the Swiss rescue chain to go to Syria, the war would have to end, says Martin Jaggi, head of the Swiss Humanitarian Aid team on Radio SRF’s “Tagessprach”.

The search or rescue forces would not even come into the civil war zone. Instead, partner organizations should be supported. These include Caritas and the Aid Organization of the Evangelical Churches in Switzerland (Heks).

Together with partner organisations, Caritas distributes urgently needed goods such as medicines, blankets and mattresses. They also supported the establishment of emergency centers and the repair of stable but damaged buildings such as churches and mosques.

The Deza wants to send a team of experts to the Syrian region, which was badly hit by the earthquake, at the weekend. The team is to evaluate needs and specify humanitarian aid, she said. In addition, the humanitarian office of the SDC in Damascus has been strengthened by staff from the Swiss representations in the region.