ANKARA — Standing on the debris in the southern Turkish city of Malatya with fingers frozen in a temperature of minus seven degrees Celsius, Zhu Yanjun, a 49-year-old Chinese woman, was racing against time with her fellow members from the Blue Sky Rescue (BSR) team to search for signs of life.
Soon after strong twin earthquakes hit Turkiye’s southern part and devastated almost 10 provinces, Zhu signed up for rescue missions in the disaster-hit region.
It is Zhu’s first mission abroad since she has joined the BSR team, a Chinese civil relief squad, in central China’s Hunan province, in 2019.
“My father was a soldier and he is the person I respect the most. My dream of donning the uniform to help others finally came true,” she said.
Zhu, after joining rescue workers from other BSR teams in Wuhan, flew to Istanbul Airport on early Feb 9, bringing endoscope cameras, radar life detectors, demolition and rescue equipment and other necessary resources. Then they flew to Malatya to carry out rescue missions.
“Rescue operations in Malatya are urgent and complicated as over 200 buildings have collapsed,” said Jin Can, a member of the Hunan BSR team.
As soon as the Chinese team arrived, they were called to investigate the situation of all collapsed buildings so as to effectively make rescue plans.
“In order to put the radar life detectors at the furthest point in the debris, our team members often had to take off their coats and crawl into holes under the rubble,” Jin said.
Chinese rescuers, including an 82-member official rescue team, the BSR team and other Chinese civil relief squads, have managed to rescue at least six survivors so far.
Overseas branches of Chinese companies are also lending a helping hand.
Upon learning of the quake, Hunan enterprises Zoomlion and SANY Group quickly responded and participated in rescue efforts, which helped save many people.
Zoomlion’s subsidiary in Turkiye arranged several excavators and sent a rescue team of engineers and drivers to quake-hit Hatay province. SANY Group also quickly carried out disaster relief operations. Within one day after the earthquake, three rescue teams were mobilized, along with dozens of excavators, cranes and service vehicles.
Printed on the boxes of supplies donated by SANY Group was a Turkish proverb “Dost kara gunde belli olur,” which means: “A friend in need is a friend indeed.”
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