Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press
Posted Sunday, February 12, 2023 9:06 pm EST
The Canadian Turkish Society is calling for a change in the way Canada deploys rescue teams to international disasters after only one team was deployed to Turkiye after last week’s earthquake.
Sina Kutluay, a spokeswoman for the group, said members were bummed that British Columbia’s Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue Team, which deployed itself last week, will remain the only Canadian team in the earthquake zone. This comes after the Vancouver consulate said the deadline for others to participate had expired.
“Due to some formalities or some logistical problems, they couldn’t get there,” Kutluay said in an interview Sunday, referring to federally coordinated search team deployments.
“It’s not a normal situation (where you have time to) ask for permission. You have to go there and start digging and save people. I think that needs to be reviewed after this experience.”
The Burnaby search team made headlines on Friday after CBC footage showed members being thanked and hugged by Turkish colleagues at the scene, moments after a dust-covered woman was taken to an ambulance at the Adiyaman town after being rescued from the rubble.
The team said in a Facebook post Saturday that it remains on the ground in the southeastern city, searching for other “victims still trapped in collapsed houses.”
Kutluay said the Canadian Turkish Society is very grateful to the team for their work, noting that it demonstrates the benefits of a streamlined process that would allow more crews to be deployed after a disaster.
“I’m sure they could have saved so many people still, because a week has passed and there are still children and people (being found) alive under the collapsed buildings.”
He said that members of the society were attending their Annual General Meeting when the earthquake struck and that one of their first actions was to compose an email to the Prime Minister and other Canadian politicians calling for search and rescue teams to be deployed quickly.
Canadian federal authorities did not give any rescue team the official go-ahead after Monday’s earthquake, which killed thousands, but they did send an assessment team and commit $10 million to relief efforts.
“This contribution will help support emergency medical services and provide shelter, food and other essential items,” Global Affairs Canada said in a statement on Saturday.
He said Canada will also match every donation made to the Canadian Red Cross for Turkiye and Syria through February 22, up to $10 million.
Kutluay said the society is now focused on helping coordinate donations and providing support to community members who have lost family or friends in the earthquake.
“We are now in the process of finding affected students who are studying in Canada. We would like to find them, contact them and coordinate support for them in the coming days,” he said.
Kutluay also noted that initially many people were donating relief materials, including blankets, tents and food, as Turkish Airlines agreed to transport the goods for free. However, he said all storage depots are now full, so the society advises people to support through financial donations instead.
“For now, funding is the most important thing,” he said. “This is not going to go away in a couple of weeks or months. It’s going to be a very long support effort.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 12, 2023.