SAPS EC
The Provincial Head of Police Emergency Services, Brigadier Vimla Moodley, received a hero's welcome when she touched down in East London after leading South Africa's rescue efforts in earthquake-ravaged Turkey.
She'd been assigned by the SAPS management to lead a South African K-9 Search and Rescue team, comprising five dogs and five handlers, which was deployed in conjunction with Gift of the Givers to Turkey on the 9th February 2023.
Moodley and her team made international headlines when K9's Donna and Optimus and their handlers helped find alive an elderly woman who'd been trapped for 8-days in the rubble of a destroyed building in Hatay.
Scores of colleagues and family members converged at King Phalo Airport in East London to welcome Brigadier Moodley home.
In her brief welcoming address, the Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Policing, Major General Thandiswa Kupiso described the atmosphere and the experience of meeting the Senior Officer as “remarkable and overwhelming.”
In an emotional response to the hero’s welcome, Brigadier Moodley expressed her gratitude to the Provincial Police Commissioner of the Eastern Cape for trusting her with such a huge and noble responsibility within the South African Police Service.
"Leading a South African team to a country that has experienced a devastating earthquake of such magnitude, is something I would never have taken for granted, ever.
"The truth is that the people of that country have suffered immensely and more work will have to be done in order to help them find closure from the horrible scene and experiences of losing thousands of their loved ones in a catastrophic earthquake," she said.
