It is 2 a.m. in Osmaniye, a town south of Turkey, on the night of Tuesday 7 to Wednesday 8 February. Lieutenant-Colonel Cyrille Chauveau, of French civil security military training (Formisc)shows the construction site on which his team is working in coordination with Turkish relief.
An eight-story building collapsed. The debris is dense and compact. The passage of the dogs did nothing. Rescue, clearing, medical assistance, canine teams or drone pilots: the 74 Formisc soldiers responded to Turkey’s call.
“We are really at the disposal of the Turkish authorities, they are the ones who tell us where we should look for potential victims”, explains the lieutenant-colonel. “We really expect the toll to be very heavy. We are wholeheartedly with the Turkish people in this terrible ordeal and we are doing everything to support them and give them our support.”
French aid will remain as long as Turkey needs them.
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“It’s not necessarily the same methods [que celles des secours turcs, NDLR], but it’s going very very well, we succeed even if with the language barrier, it can be complicated. But we have the same desire, the same energy, so it’s going very well”, explains Warrant Officer Camille, Formisc nurse.
Ali Akinci, who works at the government’s disaster management agency (Afad) in Turkey, welcomes the help of foreign relief workers: “Reinforcing our teams with foreign secondments is very important for us, it can help save more lives in less time.”
The passage of time, the extent of the disaster areas, the cold… Everything irremediably reduces the chances of finding survivors.