Hope SA Foundation's rescue mission to Türkiye: 'We faced logistical issues ... we hope to go back soon'

It was nearing 3am on Friday and we were still on a bus travelling from Gaziantep to Adiyaman, a city near the Syrian border heavily damaged in the two earthquakes that have brought Türkiye and Syria to their knees.

The natural disaster had sent a metaphorical shock wave through the world. By Friday, the death toll was more than 43,000 while millions have been left homeless, sparking a huge international relief effort.

It took us nearly 30 hours of travelling, two flights and a bus ride to reach our mark as we travelled with the South African NGO Hope SA Foundation, who graciously took us along to tell the story of devastating loss and destruction to our readers.

Finally, we arrived. But sadly, we were also out of time, spending only an hour on the ground, offloading seven boxes of donations with clothes and blankets and food from South Africa. The bus was needed elsewhere and if the team had stayed, there would have been no accommodation for them. 

Scenes from that hour will remain vignettes etched in our minds. Mass destruction. Weary efforts from tired and cold rescuers. Families huddled next to fires to keep warm. Wailing from the sirens of police cars and ambulances driving up and down the street. Heavy, earth-moving machinery churning constantly, either clearing rubble or removing piles of rubble to access areas where bodies were thought to be. Spotlights on rescue workers grinding away at steel reinforcements, intertwined with concrete, to get through to inaccessible parts of buildings in ruins.

Many tired, weary and defeated faces.

As we were still trying to comprehend what we were witnessing, we left again. Back on a bus, and then a second bus, back to Istanbul, spending another 18 hours travelling before flying back to Johannesburg, contemplating the wisdom of the mission.

Hope SA Foundation founder Namritha Sivsanker told us after we arrived back in South Africa the group of volunteers really wanted to get on the ground, help find survivors and distribute supplies for families and medical rescue teams.

In hindsight, the logistics of the exercise ended up being the biggest hurdle. Cracks in the facilitation of rescue efforts were a major stumbling block for search and rescue teams, volunteers and NGOs. 

Sivsanker said she contacted the Turkish ambassador to Pretoria Aysegul Kandas after the earthquakes happened.

“I contacted her as soon as I got news of the devastating earthquake in Türkiye, to offer my support and find out if her family was safe. I informed her that we at Hope SA Foundation could put together a team to offer relief efforts in Türkiye, and we immediately put out a call for volunteers to assist.”

The Turkish government through their disaster relief organisation (AFAD) arranged free transportation from South Africa, via Turkish Airlines. 

But shortly after landing, our efforts were halted by logistical constraints of getting to one of the 10 cities hit by the quakes. 

In the space of 72 hours, we spent about 70 hours travelling and in transit on buses, bus stations and at airports. 

After waiting about 10 hours for a flight out of Istanbul, AFAD arranged a special flight to the city of Gaziantep. 

The two-hour flight took longer than usual because the commercial airliner had to circle several times due to the airport runway being abnormally busy. 

The airport in Gaziantep hosted chaotic scenes with thousands of people queuing to try to get flights. Some had been staying there for three days without food or access to basic services.

In the early hours of Friday we boarded a bus to Adiyaman, a city left in ruin after the quakes, and were told we would be based there. 

It was close to 2am when one of the interpreters from AFAD asked: “Does anyone have any specific skills? Like a doctor or paramedic?”

After a pause, someone said there was one qualified doctor on board.

“Of those with skills, does anyone have equipment, like medicines, or tools to carry out their work?” 

“A coupon?” someone who has misheard the interpreter shouts from the back of the bus.

“No, equipment?” the interpreter repeats, as silence once again falls on the bus. 

The interpreter, visually perplexed, sits down in realisation that the bus they have chartered to the disaster site contains people without skills or equipment to carry out useful search and rescue tasks on the ground. 

The bus arrives in Adiyaman at around 3.30am. 

The interpreter, who told us he was surviving on no sleep for 40 hours, explained that due to operational constraints no tents were available to accommodate the team. 

He said other rescue teams brought their own tents, but they would look for ones we could use. 

Another option was to make use of a building being used as an operational hub in the damaged city centre. This building was abuzz with teams of people from around the world there to administer help. 

However, due to clear signs of cracks in the building, Hope SA decided against sleeping in the building because of safety concerns. 

Instead, the team decided to distribute the aid brought from South Africa directly to people in need.

The interpreter blocked this and said the protocol was to leave the boxes in the operational building to be distributed by the other teams on the ground. Hope SA Foundation members then unpacked the boxes and posed for a quick picture.

At that moment the team was informed that the bus, a valuable resource, needed to head back to Gaziantep airport to transport other rescue teams. The interpreter said he could still try to arrange tents, but needed time to do so, and with no place to sleep, a decision was taken to take the bus back to Gaziantep airport. 

Sivsanker said while the team left South Africa very motivated to give hope and help rescue people and make a positive contribution in affected areas, the exceptional challenges on the ground made this difficult. 

“We faced logistical issues and lack of safe sleeping arrangements, which made it difficult for the team to stay longer in the area and achieve our objectives. I hope the supplies distributed have helped rescue teams and displaced children.

“This mission has been extremely exhausting due the long distances we travelled and the challenges due to the nature of this devastating earthquake. No one is truly ever prepared for the magnitude of this devastation. We pray we can give hope to more people, especially once back home.”

She said she if she had to change anything, they would have been better prepared.

“Proactive planning, strategy and execution. Reliable and safe transportation and accommodation were things we would have better prepared for as these were challenges we experienced due to the short space of time we had to act upon. Specialised disaster relief task members in our team and more readiness for the unexpected in terms of accommodation. The heart to help and give hope is good but having extra resources will be more beneficial [sic].” 

Sivsanker added they were in the process of planning, raising awareness and working with stakeholders for donations and sponsorships for critical aid in the form of: safety gear, tents, sleeping bags, medicines and medical supplies, warm and thermal clothing, blankets, generators and camping equipment.

“We plan to send all collective cargo up to Türkiye and Syria within the next few days and our team will be embarking on the mission once again to help as many lives within the disaster zones in the coming weeks. It is heartwarming to hear from Turkish citizens that they feel hopeful just seeing our team and other teams come to Türkiye to assist. This itself is emotional comfort.”

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