AFP
The South African search and rescue team of Gift of the Givers has arrived in Turkey to a welcome reception.
Founder, Dr Imtiaaz Sooliman, said the team was well-received on arrival on Wednesday, as international support flows in following Monday’s deadly magnitude 7.8 earthquake which has reportedly killed 15 800 people so far.
The Turkish government has since declared a state of emergency as the death toll is expected to rise even further in Turkey and neighbouring Syria, also hard hit by the Monday's quake.
Dr Sooliman says the Gift of the Givers team would be based in the city of Adana, said to have the only functioning airport in Turkey, and from where the South Africans will conduct their operations.
He says they were told it is probably the only functioning airport in Turkey.
"In terms of medical support, they have a huge challenge. All the hospitals are damaged or destroyed and they can't have medical teams placed anywhere," Sooliman said.
He said Gift of the Givers would look for a medical facility in Adana or will set up its own facility for the South African team.
Dr Sooliman said they were also in talks with SAPS who have agreed in principle to release five dog handlers and their dogs to join their team.
"Dogs make a huge impact in search and rescue and they are efficient in helping to find where people are buried," he said.
Meanwhile, Twitter became inaccessible on major Turkish mobile providers Wednesday as online criticism mounted of the government's response to this week's deadly earthquake.
AFP reporters were unable to access the social media network across Turkey. It still worked using VPN services that disguise a user's location.
"Twitter has been informed by the Turkish government that access will be reenabled shortly," the platform's owner, Elon Musk, tweeted Wednesday.
The netblocks.org social media monitor had earlier shown Twitter becoming throttled and then completely blocked across all major cell phone providers.
(Additional reporting:AFP)
