When one of the most catastrophic earthquakes in Turkish history devastated Anatolia, the Helfende Hände deployment team was quickly on site. It takes a lot of knowledge and experience to react correctly and provide effective help in such a situation. Operations Manager Monte E. Wilson takes you on this mission, which brought vital aid supplies to people in dire need – and so much more.
Winter in southeastern Turkey. People are in their beds when the first earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, strikes from the Mediterranean deep into the Anatolian mountains. Countless houses collapse, entire families are wiped out. After sunrise, the second tremor shakes the same region. Magnitude: 7.5. Many buildings that barely survived the first shock now finally collapse.
In the ensuing chaos, it only gradually became clear how gigantic the scale of the catastrophe was. So, it is only today that we learn from the news what has happened in Turkey and northern Syria. The images from the earthquake zone are horrifying, and the death toll is rising hourly. It is already many thousands! For us, it is clear: the survivors need our help, and time is critical now!
We are already on a plane to Turkey; a local driver has been arranged. In our luggage, we have weatherproof clothing, which we will desperately need in the bitter cold winter of the Anatolian mountains, and our deployment bags ("go-bags"), which are packed and ready for use at any time. They primarily contain water filters, tents, satellite phones, and emergency rations. We must be well-prepared and independently survivable in the operational area if we cannot rely on hotels or other accommodations.
Despite decades of operational experience, despite the images we saw in the news, we are shocked by what awaits us here: a sea of rubble stretches to the horizon. Minarets, power poles, and chimneys protrude from it like tombstones. Three days have passed since Turkey awoke to this nightmare. Despite dwindling hope, rescue workers everywhere are working tirelessly hand in hand with volunteers to uncover those buried. In the mountains of ruins, people look like ants.
Rescue and recovery by authorities and helpers are the first step; we come into play with the second: We bring emergency aid to the people! Our specialty is to help precisely where it is too complicated, too remote, or too costly for other organizations. Our experience with earthquakes shows that small, remote villages usually receive little help, and often too late. In other words: If we don't help, the people there have little to expect.
Turkey requires organizations to bring their aid supplies to state warehouses, with the military organizing and supervising distribution. However, since we always insist on delivering goods directly into the hands of their recipients, we need special permission. Mentally, I had prepared myself for tough negotiations, but fortunately, our driver knew exactly the right man: a military commander who not only thanked us for our offer of help but also pulled out all the stops to support us. Contacts like this are immensely valuable to us; without him, it would have been much more difficult.
The commander describes the situation to us: The power grid has collapsed. There is no heating – many now don't even have a roof over their heads in the middle of winter! The earthquake has destroyed the sewage systems, and their contents are contaminating the groundwater and drinking water. What people need most now is therefore:
Finding these goods is quite a challenge. Everything available in the operational area has already been distributed. But eventually, we can have everything necessary transported by truck from a slightly greater distance. We need to be on site quickly, so we always purchase aid supplies close to the action, unlike other large organizations. This is not only faster but also cheaper. And that is important: every Donate euro we use should help as much as possible!
The commander can also tell us exactly which places have not yet been supplied. And he even provides us with several men as an escort through the difficult terrain, who will also help distribute the goods to the earthquake victims.
As we set off, the overwhelming stench of death takes our breath away: people and animals have been buried dead under the rubble for days. I cannot put into words how I feel in the face of these impressions. The people here also endure this, so it is all the more important that we are here as a sign of hope.
Due to the difficult conditions, we cover hundreds of kilometers over several days – without the emergency, it would have only been a few hours. With each passing day, the smells worsen. My heart breaks at the thought of the bereaved, who know exactly what causes this smell.
Once we had finally shaken our way through the mountains of rubble with the vehicles, albeit safely, we began distributing aid in the smaller, remote areas. The encounter with these people was an indescribable experience. They accepted our help with tears in their eyes. We quickly realized that we had something else with us besides aid packages: We distributed many desperately needed hugs! We let people cry on our shoulders and tell us about their pain. We showed them that they were important to us. That's when we felt how important our mission was.
We sat with the families in their tents, simply listening. One man had lost his wife, a couple all their children. In one family, aunts cared for their relatives' children because the earthquake had killed their parents. They described to us how screams had risen from the rubble. They described the darkness at night because there was no electricity, no warmth, only the winter cold and the pain of so many terrible losses. No news broadcast in the world could convey what these people endured. They had lost everything, their homes, their loved ones.
In their darkest moment, we were able to show them that not the whole world had collapsed. That they were not forgotten. That there is reason for hope. If you have already Donated to Helfende Hände: Your support is more than a bag of food or bottles of drinking water, as important as these are. Your help touches those we help beyond mere survival. And for that, I cannot thank you enough!
Monte E. Wilson Operations Manager
