CHANGSHA, China, Feb. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On February 6, two 7.8-magnitude earthquakes occurred in the southeast of Turkey from 4 am local time, causing heavy casualties and property losses. Knowing this, Zoomlion immediately dispatched a rescue team with excavators to Hatay province, where the disaster was serious.
As one of the first Chinese rescue forces to arrive at the scene, the Zoomlion rescue team has been fighting for more than 30 hours. At Turkish local time 3:00 pm on February 8, Zoomlion's rescue team has helped rescue more than 20 trapped people, and the search and rescue is still in intense progress.
Zoomlion Rescue teams work at the scene of an earthquake in Turkey
After the earthquakes, according to the company's instructions, Zoomlion Turkey immediately dispatched a rescue team consisting of professional service engineers and operators, who carried electric blankets, emergency medicines, food, and other materials urgently needed in the disaster area, and shipped together the first five excavators, set off to the disaster area Hatay province overnight. They arrived at the scene at around 12:30 local time on February 7, making them one of the first Chinese rescue forces to arrive at the scene of the disaster area.
After arriving at the scene, five excavators of Zoomlion were assigned to different areas for rescue. Collapsed, broken and cracked buildings could be seen everywhere. At the first rescue, they encountered difficulties, due to the local power failure, some professional crushing tools could not be used, in order to ensure the safety of the trapped people, the rescue workers with hammer, awl, shovel and other tools by human dug out a rescue channel, after more than 3 hours, rescued the first trapped person.
"After our rescue team and excavators arrived at the scene, we immediately participated in the rescue of the trapped people in a 6-story collapsed building. So far, we have helped rescue four trapped people and are actively rescuing two sisters," said Mr. Yu Ke, a service engineer of Zoomlion who participated in the on-site rescue.
Another member of the Zoomlion rescue team, Mr. Huang Yunbing, who is a Zoomlion overseas service engineer said the shortage of generators had made it difficult to dismount the shattered house. "There was a little girl, about 15 years old, who impressed me very much. When I got into the rescue tunnel that had been cleared, I saw her under a mattress and a stone slab, with only her head visible and able to move, and she was crying weakly and painfully. After determining that we could use two jacks to lift the stone, we immediately took a jack from the car and borrowed one from a nearby rescue team. We successfully lifted the stone a little higher, and then pulled her out."
The rescue team's efforts gave the trapped people a steady stream of hope for life. At local time in Turkey 3:00 pm on February 8, after more than 30 hours of continuous fighting, Zoomlion rescue team had rescued more than 20 trapped people from the rubble.
Zoomlion rescue team assist in rescuing trapped people
"In addition to the first five excavators, now there are more than 20 Zoomlion excavators involved in the disaster area, we are still under the unified arrangement of local personnel, equipment and other resources, to ensure the smooth progress of rescue work, try to save more trapped people." Zoomlion Turkey subsidiary related responsible person said.
