With 16 tonnes of equipment, a 50-person Technische Hilfswerk (THW) team left the Cologne Bonn Airport on Tuesday evening for the stricken province of Gaziantep in southeast Turkey, a press release states.
The agents are experts with specialized talents that enable them to find and liberate buried survivors. They are part of the Rapid Deployment Unit Search and Rescue Abroad (SEEBA).
“Our volunteers have received specialized training for tasks like this after earthquakes. The team brings the technical tools required to free trapped victims from the debris, according to THW President Gerd Friedsam. The THW is also putting up additional deployment options that could help the affected areas.
The THW has now sent out a SEEBA team following a series of devastating earthquakes that occurred on February 6, 2023, along the Syrian-Turkish border. The team’s aircraft touched down at Gaziantep Airport in the wee hours of the morning with the operators, four trained search and rescue dogs, and a total of 16 tonnes of items, including acoustic search devices and technical rescue equipment, on board.
All of this enables SEEBA to quickly find and rescue buried survivors. Volunteers from North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, and Bavaria make up this squad of THW SEEBA agents.
The SEEBA operatives are this German technical relief organization’s experts for search and rescue operations in earthquake-prone areas. They can look for survivors because they are outfitted with cutting-edge technology and skilled rescue dogs. Within hours after an alarm, members of the SEEBA unit are prepared to deploy. Their gear is contained in light metal crates so that it may be flown on regular commercial airplanes. The SEEBA squad has already been sent out, including in the wake of the 2020 Beirut explosion.
The Rapid Deployment Unit Water Supply Abroad (SEEWA), which is equipped with drinking water purification plants and can provide clean water to up to 30,000 people per day, is another THW unit that is prepared for deployment. The THW also provides support workers who have been professionally trained to help with crucial coordination in the area, upon request from the impacted nations. Their extensive knowledge has been helpful in numerous worldwide enterprises as advisors and consultants. The SEEWA unit is prepared to deploy if the right aid request is made.
