BNR spoke to Jop Heinen, one of the USAR members who will set up a base camp in the Turkish province of Hatay. Hatay is located south of the epicenter not far from the Syrian border and has been hit very hard. “Part of the team camps, from here we try to do our job.”
Turkish authorities initially determine where the rescue team should go, to avoid “everyone going to the same place,” Heinen says. “Two groups of our rescue team are already in Hatay to see if we can track people down or do something else.”
A small USAR reconnaissance party will initially look for reports or sounds of people under the rubble. “Another team will immediately search the victims with sniffer dogs,” Heinen explains.
Weather conditions
It is very cold in the area and this makes it very difficult for victims to be under the rubble. “We can wear an extra layer of clothing. These people haven’t been able to.” At night the temperature drops further below freezing, making it very hard for people, Heinen says.
For now, the USAR team, which maintains a live blog on the site, mostly believes the relief work should be done as quickly as possible, Heinen says. In principle, the team will stay in the disaster area for about seven days. “We look at this day by day, sometimes we stay longer but sometimes we come back sooner.”
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