Turkey earthquake: Malaysia SAR teams focus on scouring rubble for survivors

GAZIANTEP - The Malaysian MAS-01 SMART and MAS-10 teams, on the seventh day of search and rescue efforts following the deadly earthquake in Turkiye, will focus on scouring collapsed buildings and rubble around Nurdagi, in the hope of finding more survivors.

At 9 am this morning (2 pm Malaysia time) MAS-01 SMART and MAS-10 deployed two teams, accompanied by two guides and two translators, to look for survivors.

It involves seven work sites in sector four of Gaziantep, covering the Nurdagi urban area, which is dense with commercial buildings, hotels and residential complexes.

The rubble area where a family of five was successfully rescued on Saturday is also part of an area which has been inspected in advance by the teams.

The weather in Nurdagi is getting colder; early on Sunday morning the temperature reached -10 degrees Celsius.

The temperature in Nurdagi, which has a population of about 40,780 people, is expected to drop further, and the situation is seen as more desperate for the earthquake victims in the affected areas.

The presence of fully armed police and military personnel is also seen to be increasing, and they are regularly patrolling around the international SAR teams' operational centre, including near where the Malaysian SAR teams' operational centre is located, at the Nurdagi Stadium.

The building around the operational centre also houses three relief centres for earthquake victims, which provide food, drinks, clothes and blankets.

Since the arrival of media personnel here early Friday morning, our movements have been observed by local policemen, and they even asked to see the photos and videos taken while covering the national rescue team's SAR operations.

However, no untoward incident occurred, as all media personnel here were briefed in advance by the contingent commander, Mohd Khairul Jamil, about local sensitivities here.

A strong earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, which hit southern Turkiye and northwestern Syria on Monday, has claimed more than 24,000 lives. Aftershocks were also felt in Cyprus and Lebanon.

Turkiye, on Tuesday, declared a three-month state of emergency in 10 provinces, namely Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa, to ensure the SAR mission runs smoothly. - BERNAMA