The first of two Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams have arrived in Turkey to look for survivors following a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck the country’s southeast and northern Syria on Monday.
Members of the 40-person team said they were anxious to get to work after spending nearly all day on Tuesday on a circuitous journey to reach Adiyaman Province, one of the areas affected by the earthquake.
After first arriving in Istanbul from Taiwan, the group waited for four hours for their connection flight due to heavy air traffic in the southern city of Adana, where they needed to check in at a UN-run disaster response center.
Photo: CNA
They were supposed to board a military plane from Adana to Hatay Province on the border with Syria, but that plan was scrapped at the last minute, and they were asked to board buses and trucks for a six-hour journey to Adiyaman.
Also complicating matters was the state of the roads, as stretches of the highway had been damaged by the earthquake, while recent snowfall had created slippery conditions that slowed traffic and more than doubled their travel time.
“Search-and-rescue work is like responding to a fire,” rescue worker Hsu Yu-wen (許郁文) said of the situation, adding that she felt “anxious and helpless” at being so close to the disaster zone, but being unable to help.
Photo courtesy of Taipei City Fire Department
Reaching the disaster area was even more difficult for members of the media and civilians, many of whom were hoping to reunite with family members affected by the earthquake.
At Istanbul airport, flights to the country’s southeast were delayed by more than five hours on Tuesday due to a combination of poor weather and heavy air traffic.
A Turkish reporter who identified herself as Hana said that her superviser had sent her to cover the earthquake, but all she could think of was her grandmother, whose house had been damaged in the quake and who was without electricity and running water.
Photo courtesy of Taipei City Fire Department
In Taipei yesterday, the Turkish representative to Taiwan thanked the government and Taiwanese for sending donations as well as search-and-rescue teams in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Speaking to reporters at a “Pray for Turkey” event in Taipei, Turkish Trade Office in Taipei Representative Muhammed Berdibek said the quake was “one of the biggest disasters of not only our republican history, but also of our region and the world.”
Immediately after the earthquake, more than 70 countries and 14 international organizations offered aid to Turkey, including Taiwan, he said.
Photo: AP
“In this regard, I would like to thank Taiwan for their solid and immediate support, including sending two rescue teams totaling 130 people and five dogs, for rescue and relief efforts,” he said.
He also expressed thanks for a pledge by the government to donate US$2 million to Turkey.
The office on Tuesday issued a call for in-kind donations to help the quake survivors, he said, adding that it had received more than 2,800 messages and telephone calls as of noon yesterday.
“I am surprised and really grateful to Taiwanese people for their goodwill and kindnesses,” he said.
Berdibek said the office is looking for a warehouse to make it easier for people to drop off in-kind donations and sort the items before they are sent to Turkey.
The office would soon announce details of the arrangements, he said.
The office has called for donations of winter clothing for adults and children, such as overcoats, pants, sweaters, gloves, scarves, mufflers, socks, underwear, beanie hats, boots and raincoats.
People can also donate sleeping pads, sleeping bags, mattresses, blankets, thermoses, flashlights, diapers, sanitary pads, and cleaning and hygiene items, it added.
Meanwhile, Rifat Karlova, a Turkish-born Taipei-based TV show host, told reporters that although he is not from the areas most seriously affected by the earthquake, he has friends who have lost family members in the disaster.
Turkey and Taiwan have shared experiences of strong earthquakes, and Taiwanese are sympathetic about such tragedies, he said.
“I would like to thank you for all of your support and hopefully we will be able to save those who are still trapped in collapsed buildings,” he added.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS