Earthquake in Turkey: National Civil Protection Service sends more aid
Specialized Italian team and equipment on site to provide rapid assistance
The second Italian team that left on February 6 to provide assistance and aid to the Turkish population affected by the strong 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria at 2:17 AM of yesterday landed at dawn today in Incirlik.
Italy, following the request for aid that came to the Union Civil Protection Mechanism from the Turkish authorities, immediately activated its response through the National Civil Protection Service, sending an advanced team of experts belonging to the Civil Protection Department and the National Fire Department and a second team for urban search and rescue (USAR) joined by medical team.
USAR staff from the Fire Department, doctors, and nurses arrived early in the morning together with Civil Protection Department team and started operations together with local authorities and other international rescuers in Antioch, in the south of the country, about a hundred kilometers from the Syrian border.
In the afternoon, a new Air Force flight left from Italy to send to Turkey additional personnel from the Civil Protection Department and Fire Department, with additional supplies to supplement the special equipment (geophones, robots, thermal imaging cameras, search-cams) already sent.
The Italian specialist in Turkey count at the moment 68 people: 47 firefighters, 11 health workers from the Regional Health Systems of Tuscany and Lazio, and 10 Civil Protection Department officials.
The team of Italian rescuers and experts joins 26 additional European teams engaged in search, rescue and medical assistance activities from 19 EU countries, for a total of 1,150 rescuers.
"While the group of Italian specialists has already been at work in Turkey from this morning, we are planning to send other units and essential goods, including the equipment necessary to set up a field hospital," said the Minister for Civil Protection and Sea Policies, Nello Musumeci, after a meeting with the head of the Department, Fabrizio Curcio.
Italy's further dispatch was agreed in the last few hours with the European Commission, which coordinates the interventions of the member states, the head of the Department specified that "a ship provided by the Italian Navy (Marina Militare) will ensure the transport of the Italian mission to Turkey as soon as possible."