Cape Town - As the devastation mounts in Türkiye and Syria following last week’s twin earthquakes, the extraction of young and old still alive from building ruins days later provides much hope in search and rescue operations.
Disaster relief organisation Gift of the Givers (GOTG) volunteers are currently in Türkiye and Syria.
GOTG founder and chairperson Dr Imtiaz Sooliman confirmed that its team, assisted by Omani rescuers and SAPS K9 sniffers, retrieved an 80-year-old woman from the rubble in Hatay province, Türkiye on Monday, signalling hope that many could still be alive trapped beneath the rubble.
K9 sniffer Donna had physically started digging after catching the scent of the elderly woman.
Another sniffer dog, Optimus, was sent to confirm the scent.
Dr Sooliman said a similar experience occurred following an earthquake in Haiti in 2010 on day eight, after its teams retrieved a 64-year-old woman, Ena Zizi, from a collapsed church.
The GOTG search and rescue volunteers have been divided into three divisions, travelling with Chinese, Turkish and Omani rescuers, with the K9 unit divided among the teams.
Dr Sooliman said the K9 unit had been incredible in the search.
“Tragically, in every area they’re going, the scent is picking up hundreds of people buried within the rubble.
“The death toll is certainly far higher than the 30 000 stated thus far.
“Many bodies will not be able to be recovered from the buildings. The buildings are very unstable, have totally collapsed in an area where the population collectively is 15 million.”
On Saturday, GOTG teams retrieved three bodies – two adults and a child.
On Sunday, a mother and 16-year-old daughter were found, still in embrace.
“These kinds of pictures have an emotional and psychological effect on rescue teams who see the pain and the suffering.
“The tragedy is far bigger than anybody understood.”
The collective death toll had reached over 36 000 yesterday.
Six dog handlers and five sniffer dogs were released by the SAPS.
Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said: “The K9 search and rescue dogs are able to detect human scent and remains and are able to find victims of floods and collapsed buildings.”