596 dead people, 4152 injured and 188 people rescued alive from the rubble. These
are the official figures from the UN following the earthquake in Van/Turkey. 17
survivors have been found by the rescue dogs from the IRO (International Rescue
Dog Organisation) Member Organisation, ‘AKUT’.
On Sunday, 23rd October at 1:41 pm local time, the earthquake with a magnitude 7.2
occurred near the Iranian border in eastern Turkey. Exactly 30 minutes later, at
2:11 pm, Hasan Eray Doğan, the leader of the ‘Ankara Team K9 Search Dog Unit‘ of
‘AKUT Search and Rescue Association‘ received an SMS: ‘Earthquake in the area of
Van!‘
© AKUT/IRO
The first response teams were immediately put together. 21 helpers from the rescue
organisation ‘AKUT’ set off in a bus from Bingol (approx. 350 km from Van) without
rescue dogs. Meanwhile, further rescue teams from ‘AKUT’ gathered at the airport
in Ankara – among them were 3 rescue dog teams. 2 additional rescue dog teams flew
to Van later.
At 3:00 am local time (24th October), the first dogs arrived in Van and were transported
to Ercis – the epicentre of the earthquake – after a first coordination meeting.
At temperatures of around 2 to 3 degree Celsius and clear weather, the three rescue
dog teams from AKUT Ankara started the search. Unfortunately, they were not successful
during the first hours. The first positive report came during lunch time: ‘Already
six survivors found and rescued!’
Due to technical communication problems, there was no news from the rescue dog teams
from ‘AKUT’ Istanbul (with two Border Collies) at this time – they were allocated
to assist the aid teams in another region.
In Ercis the search continued:
Hasan Eray Doğan with his German Shepherd ‘Ruina’ (5 ½ years old). It is the first
dog in Turkey to have passed an IRO level B rubble test.
© AKUT/IRO
Dog Kömür
The 6-year-old crossbreed ‘Kömür‘ led by the veterinarian, Tarkan Özvardar, is already
known on an international level. The dog was a stray dog, was in a Turkish animal
shelter and was then trained by Tarkan Özvadar to be an IRO certified rescue dog.
This development – from stray dog to rescue dog – was also the topic of a presentation
at the ‘7th International Working Dog Conference 2011’ in Sun City/South Africa.
The third dog from ‘AKUT‘ Ankara, who was deployed to Ercis, was the 5-year-old
Golden Retriever ‘Cilek’ which means ‘strawberry’. ‘Cilek’ was led by Mehmet Sülükcü.
© AKUT/IRO
Dog Cilek
While more and more search and rescue teams (including 13 more rescue dog teams
from Turkey) arrived in Van by air, those three dogs continued their search as the
rain started falling. Later the rain turned into light snow. Their operation lasted
4 days and 4 nights – a total of 98 hours.
During this time, they searched on 60 different worksites and found and rescued
14 survivors. The dogs found three more victims, who were rescued by other rescue
teams. Unfortunately, the rescue dogs also found 11 victims who were no longer alive.
When seeing the pictures and hearing the reports it seems like a miracle that, under
those extreme conditions, no dog was hurt. As stated by Hasan Eray Doğan: “Everywhere
on the rubble there was broken glass and many nails – but luckily we didn’t have
any accident!“
Info-Box
International Rescue Dog Organisation
The ‘International Rescue Dog Organisation‘ IRO is a registered non-profit organisation
and was founded in 1993. Members of IRO are 110 national organisations from 38 countries
worldwide (e.g. ‘AKUT’ from Turkey).
Main goal of the IRO is to save lives by deploying rescue dog teams that are trained
to the highest level.
Through close cooperation with the organisations of UNO, OCHA (Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs) and INSARAG (International Search & Rescue Advisory Group)
IRO rescue dog teams that are trained and certified for international deployment
are sent abroad. The international missions always take place with other certified
search and rescue teams.
Paul Cech
IRO-Press
Photos: AKUT/IR