There are more than five different Chinese NGO rescue teams fighting against the clock to find survivors in quake-hit Turkey.
The death toll across Turkey and Syria has surpassed 37,700 since the earthquake struck. Since then, more than 9,300 foreign nationals from 80 countries have assisted Turkey in its search and rescue operations, showing the scale of global support.
The Chinese government has deployed 82 team members from China Search and Rescue, set up by the Ministry of Emergency Management. However, before the official rescue team was dispatched, one Chinese NGO rescue organization had already sent out a team to support Turkey.
He Nan is the manager at Zhuoming Natural Disaster Information Center, a Chinese NGO focusing on disaster relief through information technology. When asked about the rescue operations, he said the weather, road conditions, and political situation have made rescue efforts more complicated than usual.
“Now we need to think about how to help the people who survived live,” He Nan said. Turkey needs different actors, both governmental and non-governmental, to help rebuild survivors’ lives.
