On the morning of February 6, 2024, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Turkey (and western Syria). Since the earthquake happened at 4am most people were fast asleep and in bed. If some managed to get out of their building before it fell, many were caught in the second 7.7m earthquake that struck later that afternoon. The confirmed death toll was over 50,000, and that is only counting the corpses that were recovered (so many bodies still lay under the debris). On top of that about 1.5 million people were left homeless. This was called the deadliest natural disaster in Turkey’s modern history. Help wasn’t able to arrive immediately due to damaged roads and broken communication. And this is where Oktay comes in. Oktay Saros is a Turkish man born and raised in Turkey but currently lives in America. His wife lost all of her family in this earthquake. We met Oktay and his wife in the earthquake zone during the initial search and rescue phase. The things we witnessed and experienced will be burned in our memories forever. The complete devastation of the area and the people was overwhelming. And now, 4 months later, Oktay is back in Turkey with a plan to create a memorial for all those who have lost loved ones and the first ever search and rescue training center free for all who want to attend. His goal is to grow the knowledge and develop the skills needed to respond to such an emergency. Sadly, we saw that there was not enough help. People wanted to volunteer but simply didn’t know what to do. If only the locals had been trained to respond to a natural disaster many more lives would have been saved and people would have been recued sooner. Oktay has found local volunteers in Turkey, search and rescue personnel from America, and search and rescue dogs from America that are being donated to Turkey. Even the mayor of Hatay, the capital of the earthquake zone, has agreed to give Oktay and his crew access to use live buildings, buildings that have fallen, for this training and all are welcome and encouraged to attend. He plans to be here for a total of 8-12 months, long enough to be able to set up this search and rescue school and train leaders to continue running it. Although Oktay applied for a grant from the US, he still hasn’t heard back from them! Therefore, we decided to start a LFEBridge for him. He needs financing to be able to run this program, to be away from work and donate his time to this job. We hope you will consider donating to this incredible cause. Thank you in advance!
Artículos relacionados
