Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service Turkish Earthquake Report

In issue number 20 of Technical Rescue you will have seen an article about the United Kingdom Fire Services Search & Rescue Teams (UKFSSART) and one of their training exercises in Hampshire.

Part of that training was based around a scenario in which an earthquake had caused a large-scale collapse with live casualties in need of rescue.

As part of Hampshire's UKFSSART, the setting up and running of that training and meeting members from some of the UK's other teams was very useful.

But we never thought that we would be deployed within the year, to a situation that would require the exact same skills we had practiced.

At 3:02 in the early hours of the morning on Tuesday 19^th August an earthquake hit Turkey.

The epicentre was at Izmit to the south east of Istanbul, causing, in the region alone in excess of 4000 deaths, 10,000 injured and rendering uninhabitable some 45,000 buildings.

These figures rise dramatically as the effect on the whole of Turkey is taken into account.

At the time of writing estimations were putting the death toll at 40,000, the number of injured in the hundreds of thousands and the number of homeless in the millions.

Figures that are, at best, difficult to comprehend.

UKFSSART mobilised on the day of the earthquake in two groups.

The first group flew out on the Tuesday afternoon and consisted of teams from West Midlands, Mid & West Wales, South Wales, Cheshire and Leicestershire fire services.

They were sent to the area to the east of Izmit.

The second group with teams from Hampshire, Essex, West Sussex, Kent and West Midlands fire services then mobilised on the Wednesday evening.

As part of the second team we arrived at Istanbul airport early on the Thursday morning.  We went from there to Yalova, a trip requiring bus and ferry journeys.

Yalova is a town on the north shore of the Sea of Marmara and to the west of the epicentre Izmit.  Recent estimates have put the death toll in that region at 2500.

Work began immediately on our arrival with people telling us of sounds heard under buildings within the main town centre.

Dogs were deployed and searches took place but no live persons were found at that location.

We were redeployed to a region just to the east of Yalova, which partly served as a holiday resort for the Turkish.

Building upon building which had been six or seven storeys in height were in various states of repair.  Some had been reduced to massive piles of rubble; others seemed to have suffered no damage whatsoever.

Other rescue teams including Finns, Japanese, Turkish SAR & Military and Israeli military (who had brought up their own heavy plant) were already working in some of the damaged buildings so we chose those that had not yet been searched or those that we were directed to by the local people.

As is to be expected at a disaster of this scale many dead bodies were located and it was not until the late morning that we found ourselves helping to remove a live casualty from the debris.

This was a woman, in her sixties, who had been on holiday with her two sisters.

Her apartment had been on the second floor but was now only five feet above the ground.

To get to her involved tunnelling down through the earth and the building's foundations using hand tools and pneumatic/hydraulic breakers and then back up through what had been the ground floor and first floor ceilings.

She was in remarkably good condition, having been trapped for almost fifty hours before her eventual release.

That rescue took in excess of five hours to complete.

She was to be the first and last live casualty that the UKFSSART working in this region were to find.

From then on teams were employed in the searching of many locations with numerous dead bodies being located.

With heat well over 40^o for those working on the rubble piles it was clear that dehydration of possible survivors and advanced decomposition of the dead was a major problem and the rescuers themselves had to take care to stay hydrated.

By Saturday morning it was becoming obvious that the role of the search & rescue teams was coming to an end.

The need for large mechanical plant was increasing so as to be able to remove whole floors and move around large amounts of debris and the ever-increasing risk of typhoid and cholera meant that the need to clear the affected areas and protect the living population was beginning to overtake the need to keep searching for any survivors.

All UKFSSAR Teams returned home via Istanbul on Sunday 22^nd August.

WHAT CAN BE LEARNT?

A fast response is necessary.  That said, if you are on the ground too early no body knows what needs to be done or where to go, but better one day too early than one hour too late.

The right equipment and personnel.

The people that go need to be well trained and familiar with any equipment they might use and the techniques that they may have to employ.

We used hydraulic rams and combi tools, electric saws, Kango tools and of course hand-held spades, saws and hammers.

I lost count of the number of times that a small multi tool was just what was needed.  Once there an appreciation of the amount of effort that is required from personnel and efficient use of the time and resources available.

Regular change around of personnel ensures nobody becomes too tired, which can cause loss of concentration with the dangerous consequences for the individual, other team members and of course the victim being rescued.

Good communications.

This is vital. There were no landlines available in Turkey, mobile phones worked fairly well, but the networks were swamped. Probably as much by the amount of media interest as by the requirements of the rescue teams.

Satellite communications and good radio systems are extremely useful.

A wide variety of searching equipment.  Our first choice of search equipment was always the search and rescue trained dogs.

Their abilities far outreach any manmade devices yet invented.

Other equipment we used included vibraphones and similar acoustic equipment, thermal imaging cameras and trapped person locators and searchcams.

Transport. 

With the amount and weight of equipment and the need to sometimes respond quickly to areas beyond walking distance, vehicles are extremely useful.

We had the use of three public buses, which we initially thought would not be suitable but actually turned out to be invaluable.

Along with their drivers who were used to the particularly manic fashion in which most vehicles in Turkey are driven).

Prioritising the search locations.

If it is obvious that no one is left alive where you are searching your skills and equipment are better employed elsewhere.  Having said that, a little time spent confirming the death of a relative by actually locating the body can put an end to uncertainties in the minds of the family and help with the grieving process.

Knowing when your job is over.

Once your team can no longer perform its function effectively it is time to leave.  If you stay you are only misusing the resources of a country that are desperately needed elsewhere.

With criticism having been received from various quarters for not using the UKFSSART enough in the past it was good to see a fast and large response to this situation.

We can only hope that now after having proven their worth, these teams will be used again.

SEARCH DOGS QUARANTINED

As a footnote to this article we would like to mention the fate of the many British search and rescue dogs that were sent to Turkey.

These dogs performed admirably, working for long periods of time in oppressively hot conditions over unsafe ground giving direction to the human members of the many rescue teams that employed them.  They are arguably the best method for locating trapped persons, in many cases they were in Turkey for no more than 4 or 5 days.  They are now in quarantine for six months.

This is a ridiculous and unnecessary state of affairs.

These dogs are unbelievably well trained and rarely, if ever, leave the side of their handler.

They all have been "chipped" for identification, had anti-rabies inoculations and could be easily checked at regular intervals by a local vet, in addition to which the financial cost of their "stay at her Majesty's pleasure" can run into thousands of pounds.

To force them into what is in effect a prison sentence for having done such good work and having trained for many years to do that work is complete hypocrisy. In the six months they will be incarcerated they will receive no training in the techniques that make them so valuable and will not be available for use in this country should they be needed. This is a situation that desperately needs addressing - immediately.

Story courtesy of Technical Rescue Magazine and Phil Crook

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