“We are grateful to all the international countries that are providing medical and search and rescue assistance – including South Africa – and the Gift of the Givers Foundation for providing 50 medical doctors and rescue teams and equipment via Turkish Airlines.’’- Aysegul Kandas, Türkiye’s ambassador to SA.
As a sign of respect, let us refer a nation deeply in grief and on its knees after being violently hit by an Act of God that unleashed powerful earthquakes, tremors and aftershocks, by its United Nations-sanctioned name-change from the Republic of Turkey to Türkiye.
As an influential member of the European Union, Ankara could become a centre of influence and ally – including SA and Africa – in world conflicts and calamities – but only once this progressive country picks itself up from one of its most monumental disasters of apocalyptic proportions.
There are huge lessons to be learnt from the twinned earthquakes that rocked the southern belts of Türkiye and the northern flanks of Syria along the notorious earthquake highway – claiming a death toll surging to over 33 000 – as forecasted by the World Health Organisation.
Fortunately, disaster-prone South Africa’s presence is being significantly felt in the quake zones: “Our nation and government are deeply saddened by the unthinkable loss of life in Türkiye and Syria,’’ said President Cyril Ramaphosa.
SA’s ambassador to Ankara, Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, was quick off the ground in rallying for desperately-needed for emergency support and relief aid – immediately calling Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, founder and CEO of the Gift of the Givers Foundation to expedite a mission of mercy to both countries ravaged by the natural disasters after 6 000 buildings collapsed, leaving millions, homeless, hungry, without water and shelter and facing the wrath of the bitter, icy winter freeze and snowing.
Cruelly, the catastrophe has put Syria, plagued by 12 years of a brutal civil war waged by soldiers, rebels, jihadists, war lords, terror groups and Kurdish separatists, on its back foot. Only when the UN and Türkiye Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened new borders to deliver foreign aid to the displaced refugees and residents.
As the world media narrates the haunting story of this human drama, the winter freeze is biting hard and the scramble was underway in the race against time to save lives and bury the dead with dignity. Social media platforms, especially Twitter and Instagram, were abuzz in alerting emergency crews and rescue missions and rallying global aid and have radically changed the way disaster appeals should be relayed.
Overnight, warm bodies in beds were displaced as victims and survivors in icy tent towns. Fury and anger is the new battle cry against a government struggling to respond to its second epic strike in hundred years.
However, the resilience of the human spirit emerged in full flight. Over 70 countries and dozens of humanitarian organisations moved into top gear to tackle the disaster. India, Pakistan, SA and the USA were on the runways to deliver humanitarian aid to Ankara.
Some of the real heroes are Dr Sooliman and his 50-member medical and rescue crew and volunteers now working alongside international rescue missions: as the calendar and clock ticked past the 72-hour deadline to pull out survivors, rescue teams are faced with the grim task of hauling lifeless bodies of men, women and children out of crumbled, concrete tombstones.
The dramatic footages of buried Baby Syria, with her umbilical cord cut from the lifeless body of a mother she will never touch, being pulled out of the rubble turned wailing into tears of joy as the new-born girl was safely ensconced inside an incubator in one of the hospitals over-run by this human drama. Wild screams of joy greeted the rescue of Toddler Türkiye – one of dozens of little boys who were fed water from bottle caps and carefully hauled from the rubble. Grandparents cried over the loss of families. A weeping father hung onto the hand of his limp teenage daughter. A young man kissed his bride-to-be, saying: “I am a walking dead. I wanted to bury her in a white dress, but now I will bury her in a black shroud.’’
Poignantly, a heart-wrenching moment when a distraught father watches the lifeless body of his 12-year-old being pulled out of the rubble: “The world has collapsed on my head, that I all I can say.’’
The goodbyes to fallen loved ones are painful and public.
The heart of this gut-wrenching disaster lies at the end of many streets and broken buildings. Grown men were wailing with tortured cries of ‘’Allahu Akbar’’ – God is Great – as the search for life and livelihood becomes a new nightmare.
For now politics should be set aside and unity is needed to repair a broken people, broken country amidst a three-month state of emergency and an upcoming election.
En Passant: From the richest to the poorest countries – Maldova – leapt into action to help rebuild both strife-hit countries.
Audi Alteram Partum: Time is up for Pretoria to support the Gift of the Givers Foundation, Al-Imdaad Foundation and charities from other socio-religious and cultural groups to launch a national humanitarian aid and emergency movement.
Quid Pro Quo: Our citizens stand out by opening their hearts, wealth and wallets – the homeless survivors need food, water and accommodation.
Last Word: Amidst a soul-crashing reality of lost lives, remarkable rescues, horror stretching far and wide and chaotic scenes, a once proud nation sent an SOS to the world in good time.
