Aid flight leaves Dubai to bolster Turkey-Syria earthquake medical relief

Seventy-four tonnes of surgical aid destined for Istanbul and Damascus

Emergency aid packaged up for transport from the WHO warehouses in Dubai to be sent to Turkey and Syria. All photos: Antonie Robertson / The National

Two flights carrying 74 tonnes of health kits and medical equipment are due to land in Damascus and Istanbul on Wednesday

Robert Blanchard from the WHO said teams will work with local co-ordinators to distribute the aid

Surgical kits and medical supplies worth almost $600,000 (Dh2.2m) at International Humanitarian City on Tuesday

Aid was loaded on to a Moalem Aviation flight bound for Syria and an MNG Airlines plane headed for Istanbul

Aid included medical kits and surgical packs

Follow the latest on the earthquake in Turkey and Syria

The first cargo plane with emergency medical aid has left Dubai to bring relief to about 23 million people affected by the two powerful earthquakes that struck near the Turkey-Syria border on Monday.

The cargo plane bound for Istanbul left Al Maktoum International Airport on Wednesday evening transporting 37 tonnes of medical kits.

Additionally, International Humanitarian City (IHC) is facilitating another relief flight to Syria to deliver crucial aid.

Both flights carrying 74 tonnes of health kits and medical equipment supplied by the World Health Organisation were scheduled to land in Damascus and Istanbul on Wednesday evening.

More than 10,000 people are now thought to have died after the powerful quakes, which were followed by a series of aftershocks.

We are taking urgent action to address the pressing demand for medical aid in the affected regions

Mohammed Ibrahim Al Shaibani,
chairman, IHC Supreme Committee

Pallets of emergency surgical kits and medical supplies worth almost $600,000 were stacked at International Humanitarian City on Tuesday in preparation for aid flights.

From there, they were taken to Al Maktoum International Airport and loaded on to a Moalem Aviation flight bound for Syria and an MNG Airlines plane headed for Istanbul to assist the global relief effort.

Emergency response teams on the ground will receive supplies and transfer them to areas most in need of help.

“Once the shipment arrives, they will be managed by a local clearing agent through customs officials and handed over to the WHO team on the ground,” said Robert Blanchard, an emergency response operations manager from the World Health Organisation’s logistics team in Dubai.

“They will then work with local co-ordinators to distribute the aid packages as quickly as possible to where they are most needed.”

Major relief efforts under way

The flights are the most recent sent to the disaster zone, and follows several aid missions that left Abu Dhabi this week with search-and-rescue teams on board to help in the immediate recovery operation in Adana and Gaziantep.

Rescue operations are likely to be hampered by damaged infrastructure in the worst-hit areas of north-west Syria and south-east Turkey where temperatures have plummeted to -10ºC in recent days.

A cholera outbreak is also causing serious health concerns to those crammed together in makeshift shelters, after dozens of buildings and apartment blocks came crashing down in the initial earthquake, and substantial aftershocks.

While medical aid drops are the primary concern of humanitarian agencies to treat the wounded, shelter and urgent supplies of food, clean water and other essentials have also been sent out from humanitarian centres.

"The IHC stands firmly committed to providing the people affected by the earthquakes with the humanitarian support and resources they need,” said Mohammed Al Shaibani, chairman of the Supreme Committee for the Supervision of International Humanitarian City.

“We are taking urgent action by facilitating airlifts of vital medical supplies from the World Health Organisation to address the pressing demand for medical aid in the affected regions.”

Search-and-rescue teams from the UK have also landed in Gaziantep in Turkey, 97km north of Aleppo.

A team of 77 specialists and four trained search dogs joined the effort to search for survivors in the rubble of decimated towns.

They were accompanied by an emergency medical team to conduct a full assessment and treat the injured.

International support

The brother of a survivor Gokhan Ugurlu, 35, who was pulled out of the rubble in Hatay, Turkey, reacts as a rescuer looks on. Reuters

A woman walks past flattened buildings in a street in Hatay province, Turkey. Reuters

A member of the army stands amid rubble in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Reuters

A man reacts while sitting outside a tent of a temporary accommodation centre set up on a football pitch in Gaziantep, Turkey. Reuters

Earthquake survivors walk on a street in Hatay, Turkey. Reuters

A White Helmets volunteer holds a rescued cat in the rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria. Reuters

A Syrian boy, who lost his family in the deadly earthquake, stands amid the rubble of his family home in Jindayris. AFP

Rescuers sit by a bonfire in Hatay, Turkey. AFP

A Turkish soldier walks among destroyed buildings in Hatay. AFP

Relatives of Palestinian doctor Yusuf Darabeh, who died when the earthquake hit Turkey, comfort each other. AP Photo

People stand by a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey. AP Photo

A child, injured in the earthquake, is treated at hospital in Bab Al Hawah, Syria. AP Photo

Vehicles containing aid from Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) on the Iraqi side of the Iraq-Syria border. Reuters

Rescuers carry Muhammed Alkanaas, 12, to an ambulance after five days under the rubble in Antakya, Turkey. AP

Romanian firefighters load a Turkey-bound train with emergency aid near Bucharest. AP

Collapsed buildings in Jandaris, Syria. Reuters

Abdulkerim Nano, 67, is rescued after five days under the rubble in in Kahramanmaras, Turkey

A Turkish rescue worker checks a collapsed building in Adiyaman. AP

Rescuers in Adiyaman, Turkey. AP

A resident in front of his collapsed building in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras. AFP

Syrian refugees shelter in a public market in the Islahiye district of Gaziantep, Turkey. AP

A family wait for the bodies of their relatives to be recovered in Antakya, Turkey. AP

A woman plays with a sniffer dog in Antakya, Turkey. AP

Collapsed buildings in Antakya, Turkey. AP

A Syrian woman takes care of her nephew Hasan Goayid, eight, in Islahiye district, Gaziantep. AP

A Syrian child in a tent in the Islahiye district. AP

Collapsed buildings in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras. AFP

Emirati rescuers sift through the rubble of a collapsed building in the regime-controlled town of Jableh, northwest of the Syrian capital. AFP

Volunteers at the Emirates Red Crescent 'Bridges of Goodness' campaign at the South Hall, Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City. Leslie Pableo for The National

Martin Griffiths, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, in Maras, Turkey. Reuters

Rescuers give water to a dog after a rescue operation in Hatay, southern Turkey. AP

A deadly earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6. EPA

Fissures from the earthquake have crumpled the highway near Islahiyeh in Southern Turkey. Matt Kynaston / The National

A Kurdish charity's aid convoy enters Syria through the Bab Al Salama crossing with Turkey, in the northern province of Aleppo. AFP

A rescuer with a sniffer dog searches in a destroyed building in Antakya, southern Turkey. AFP

A makeshift camp erected in a stadium in the city of Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey. EPA

A woman mourns Turkish Cypriot victims of the earthquake, during a funeral procession in the Turkish occupied area in north-east coastal city of Famagusta, Cyprus. AP

Rescuers carry survivor Rabia Ofkeli, 27, from the rubble in Hatay, southern Turkey. Reuters

Syrian President Bashar Al Assad visits Aleppo university hospital. Reuters

Members of the Swiss rescue team with a four-month-old girl, Abir, who was pulled out from the rubble in Antakya. AFP

Survivors at a hospital in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Reuters

Members of the White Helmets during the fifth day of rescue operations in Jandaris, Syria. Reuters

Indonesian Muslims perform a prayer for the victims at Istiqlal grand mosque in Jakarta. EPA

Emergency personnel conduct a rescue operation to save Melda, 16, from beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay, southern Turkey. AFP

The earthquake caused a railbed overpass to collapse in Nurdagi, Turkey. AFP

A framed picture on the cracked wall of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, south-eastern Turkey. EPA

A coastal area of Iskenderun, Turkey, was flooded after the quake. Reuters

A sheet of paper lies among the rubble in Elbistan. AP

Relief supplies destined for earthquake survivors in Turkey, at a warehouse in Schoenefeld, near Berlin, Germany. AP

Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaras, three days after the earthquake struck. AFP

Rescuers with a child pulled out from under the rubble. Reuters

Rescuers rest on top of rubble as an aircraft drops water over a fire at the port in the quake-stricken town of Iskenderun. Reuters

A rescue worker in Kahramanmaras, three days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck south-east Turkey. AFP

People try to pull out a dog trapped beneath the rubble in Iskenderun, Turkey. Reuters

Lorries carrying humanitarian aid wait at Bab Al Hawa crossing on the Turkey-Syria border. Reuters

Syrians warm up by a fire outside a makeshift tent near the rebel-held town of Jindayris in Syria. AFP

A dam on the Orontes river in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province collapsed after the quake, flooding the neighbourhood. AFP

The sails of the Sydney Opera House lit with a black ribbon in remembrance and mourning of the earthquake victims. Getty

Smoke billows amid an expanse of collapsed and damaged buildings in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Reuters

Dogs of the German International Search and Rescue team rest between operations in Kirikhan, Turkey. Reuters

White Helmets volunteers rescue a child trapped beneath the rubble in Jandaris, Syria. Reuters

People gather to collect food and humanitarian aid in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras, south-east Turkey. EPA

The statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, is surrounded by damaged buildings in Adiyaman province. AP

A plane carrying humanitarian air sent for earthquake survivors lands in Damascus. Mahmoud Rida / The National

Motorway fractured by earthquake causes car crash near Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Matt Kynaston / The National

A tent camp has been set up at a stadium in south-eastern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras to shelter families whose homes were destroyed in the quake. AFP

A displaced Syrian woman rests under a tree in a field on the outskirts of the rebel-held town of Jindayris. AFP

Experts have been seconded from 14 fire and rescue services from across the UK, and will use seismic listening devices, concrete cutting and breaking equipment; and heavy duty propping and shoring tools to cut into damaged buildings.

The team is self-sufficient and provides its own food, water, shelter, sanitation, communications and all necessary equipment to undertake search-and-rescue operations.

Meanwhile, in north-west Syria, the UK-funded White Helmets continue to carry out a significant search-and-rescue response and have mobilised all their resources to respond to emerging needs.

The UK has given the White Helmets £2.25 million ($2.72 million) in the past year and an additional funding uplift of £800,000 for frontline search-and-rescue operations.