Al-Qalam 
With over 41 000 bodies being pulled from the rubble, the heartache and despair for the living is mounting. Charity groups say this is the time, more than ever, for South Africans to do their best to ease the suffering, writes Nabeelah Shaikh.
South African Muslim relief organisations have rallied to Türkiye’s cry for help to ease the suffering of thousands of people left destitute by one of the most devastating earthquakes of this century.
More than 41 000 people have been killed and tens of thousands were injured after the magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 earthquake struck both regions on February 6. Millions of people have been affected by the quake leaving scores of them displaced.
South Africa’s Gift of the Givers Foundation was quick to respond by sending a rescue team to rescue the living from the rubble of crumbled buildings and sadly extract the dead.
After more than a week on the ground, the Gift of the Givers South African rescue team left the earthquake zone in the Turkish city of Hatay yesterday and are preparing for their journey back home on (today) Friday.
Amidst the despair, there was also hope. The Gift of the Givers team working closely with the Omani team retrieved an 80-year-old woman alive from beneath a collapsed building in Hatay. Donna, a sniffer dog, led her handler Warrant Officer Gouws to where the elderly woman was lodged underneath the concrete.
Gift of the Givers Founder, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, says the teams have been very decisive.
“We were contacted by the Turkish government as well as the doctor who heads our operations in Syria to get involved as the crisis is huge. Last week, 32 personnel were flown across. We had three translators from Turkey. We flew in six search and rescue personnel and one of our team members, an orthopaedic surgeon from Denmark. We sent in six dog handlers and five dogs,” said Sooliman. The medical team was being led by Dr Qasim Bhorat and the search and rescue team was led by Ahmed Bham.
Sooliman said it was a very emotional time for the team.
“Wherever they went, people were telling them ‘Please look here, please search here, with hope in their eyes’. The teams have been confronted with these sentiments throughout their operations. It’s easy to understand this. If your child was missing, or your family member was missing, you would do anything to find them alive,” said Sooliman.
Sooliman says unfortunately, there were many areas in Hatay that the teams didn’t reach because the city is too big, and the destruction is just too huge.
“Today, they are on their way to Ankara where they will be hosted by the South African ambassador to Turkey and from there, the 15-hour journey to Istanbul will take place, while making all the arrangements to return back to Jo’burg and Cape Town,” said Sooliman.
He says the teams are in great spirit.
“They’ve achieved a lot; they have learnt from other teams. This is unity and human endeavor at its best in times of crisis. There had been difficulty in getting accommodation tents and blankets in the biting cold. But our team was resilient. The Serbian team, the Turkey team, the Omani team worked together and built international camaraderie in one of the most destroyed cities in the earthquake. People looked at them with hope, hoping they will bring out one of their family members alive, or bring out the bodies so they can have closure,” said Sooliman.
Sooliman said it was indeed a very difficult time.
“We have been sending aid from Turkey into Syria. There is no point sending aid from South Africa because everything can be purchased there – and we send them in container loads.
In Syria, we have several operations. We run Ar-Rahma hospital. We have been in the country for 11 years. Ar Rahma is one of the largest hospitals in North Syria with five different buildings. One is a feeding centre which we use to feed patients. Now we have expanded our feeding programme and we are funding that,” said Sooliman.
Truckloads of essential aid were being sent across the Turkish border and into Syria this week. He said the organisation has 320 personnel at Ar-Rahma Hospital and a second hospital they have at the border of Turkey, Hilal Hospital.
“And we are sending out medical teams to other hospitals where they are battling and do not have enough manpower. We have sent out search and rescue teams inside Syria. And have sent out a whole range of tents to assist with accommodation for those who have lost their homes.
Hospital
Our medical teams are investigating the possibility of setting up our own field hospital or working with other hospitals, but all the hospitals are destroyed right now, so this is a very difficult time,” said Sooliman.
Sooliman expressed his gratitude to the people of South Africa for their kind words, prayers, and financial contributions to make an impact in Turkey and Syria.
Penny Appeal South Africa and Johannesburg-based charity Ashraful-Aid have also been on the ground, offering their assistance during this time.
In a live Instagram update, Penny Appeal SA’s CEO, Shahnaaz Paruk, said they’ve been distributing food packs and blankets.
“Our teams were hard at work at our warehouse, packing the items that were needed. These food items they have been waiting for, for a very long time. It’s a severe and harsh winter here. Our hearts are sore. We have seen so many children who don’t have shoes, who don’t have adequate warm items. We are seeing children with frostbite on their faces. We’ve seen a lot of things which should not be happening in this day and age. Access to education is non-existent. Access to healthcare is non-existent here,” said Paruk.
“Please continue to support the work that we’re doing. Children don’t get the basic nutrition they need to sustain themselves. I appeal to you, to open your hearts and try to think of this as these are your children, your nieces, your nephews,” said Paruk.
