In Turkey rescue teams stop searching for survivors, they give way to bulldozers

The same deafening noise could be heard throughout the city. It is now the excavators’ turn. The arrival of these machines also means that the search for survivors has come to an end. People across the street watch in disbelief, tears in their eyes, as their former lives are devoured bit by bit by machines. When a concrete block is lifted up by an excavator, the remains of a living room, kitchen, and sometimes even children’s books or toys reappear. Residents have realized that the chances of finding survivors are slim ten days after the earthquake. “I lost my uncle, my mother-in-law, and my father-in-law. The rescue teams used all available technology. So when they say we have to clear now, they’re right.”

Rescuers from all over the world must also accept the end of their mission. “The Turkish Ministry of the Interior had already told all the rescue teams that it was best for each one to go to their countries of origin. because it is already extremely difficult to find anyone alive. We arrived on Wednesday, worked in Adiyaman until Sunday, and couldn’t find anyone still alive. “The level of destruction there was quite, quite large,” Teo Javaloyes, a rescue firefighter sent to southern Turkey by the Spanish NGO “Bombers Pel Mon,” told RFI.

“Almost one in every two buildings had collapsed, and the ones that remained standing had major cracks, indicating that they were too dangerous to enter. Any survival rescue is a miracle. When we could no longer find people alive, working with dogs and vibraphones, a backhoe machine would arrive and remove everything “He continues.