ANKARA: The people of Turkey have the capacity to “recover fast,” according to search and rescue volunteers from Pakistan who have been in the country’s southern disaster zones for more than a week.
“What we have seen here during the post-quake operations is that Turks have the capacity to recover fast,” Sarfaraz Shaikh, part of a team from Alkhidmat Foundation, told Anadolu Agency at the airport in Adana.
“Everyone had something to offer to quake-affected people. We saw that in Istanbul and everywhere we went,” said Shaikh, whose team landed in Turkey’s most famous metropolis on Feb. 10 and will fly home on Monday.
They were among more than 9,000 international search and rescue teams, including others from Pakistan, who worked in 11 Turkish provinces struck by the February 6 twin tremors — Kahramanmaras, Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Kilis, Osmaniye, Elazig, and Sanliurfa.
The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes have now claimed more than 40,000 lives in Turkey, with more than 13 million people directly affected in what Turkish authorities have dubbed the “disaster of the century.”
One of South Asia’s biggest civil society groups, Alkhidmat is known for its organised operations and disciplined cadre of more than 60,000 volunteers who made headlines during last year’s catastrophic floods in Pakistan.
The organisation dispatched a crew of 47 specialists to help with rescue and relief efforts in coordination with Turkey’s disaster response agency AFAD.
They were initially deployed in Adiyaman before moving to Hatay, one of the worst-hit areas.
The team searched through at least 30 disaster sites and recovered the bodies of many victims, Fawad Sherwani, Alkhidmat’s search and rescue leader, told Anadolu Agency.
“It is our responsibility to support Turkey in this hour of need,” he said.
His views were echoed by Shaikh, who recalled the assistance given to Pakistan by Turkish groups including TIKA, IHH, Cansuyu, and Hayrat.
“We thank them for their help when we needed it most,” he said.
Strong ties rooted in history
Rizwan Ahmad, the group’s coordinator, said Turkey and Pakistan have a “strong history” and enjoy close bilateral ties.
Recalling the Khilafat Movement launched by Muslims in South Asia to support the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century, Ahmad said: “The main thing is our cultural bonds and the religious aspect of our relations.”
“We were close even when during the 1920s there was a need from the Ottomans,” he said, referring to the twilight years of the empire.
“The people of Pakistan, the erstwhile subcontinent … at that time came here, the women gave their jewellery, gave medicine […] There is a strong history.”
At the time, Muslims in South Asia organised under the banner of the Khilafat Movement to extend help, both in cash and kind, to the Ottomans.
Different missions to aid Turks against foreign aggression also came from South Asia, which was later divided into Pakistan and India, and further with the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.
Ahmad also pointed out that Turkey is always the first to respond to any disaster in Pakistan.
“Be it the 2005 earthquake, or the floods of 2010 and 2022, Turkey was there,” he said. “It is our duty, our obligation to come here and serve people in their time of sorrow and need.”
Ahmad said the team included a doctor and four paramedics, and also brought its own tools and equipment for search and rescue, including cutters, generators, detectors, and protective suits.
“Our members are multitalented and able to respond to a particular situation in real-time according to what is needed,” he said.
“They are also ambassadors of Pakistan,” he stressed.
Apart from search and rescue, Ahmad said the group organised games and gave toys and sweets to children in the disaster areas.
The team also distributed aid in cash as well as essential hygiene items.
‘Prioritise psychological support, hygiene aid’
Dr. Muhammad Kashif, who has been practising in Pakistan’s commercial hub Karachi for 18 years, said people in the quake zones are facing respiratory problems and psychological issues.
“There is huge damage to life and property. People are now facing breathing issues, sore throat, skin diseases, and the cold weather,” said Kashif, a long-time Alkhidmat associate who has worked in several disaster areas in Pakistan.
“There is also a need for psychiatrists. Turks are brave. They don’t ask for anything, but they need immediate psychological and emotional therapy.”
Kashif said donors should prioritise sending hygiene kits to the quake-affected regions, while also emphasising the need for more paediatricians and chest specialists.
