Buildings turned into piles of concrete with people underneath and grasping anything they could to survive. The Israeli volunteer organizations that have arrived at the scene – IsraAID and United Hatzalah of Israel and Israel Search and Rescue – total some 40 people, all from different backgrounds. Some are religious or Haredi; others are secular. But they all had one goal: To reach the Turkish teams and the IDF Homefront Command mission that had arrived early Tuesday and work together. Everyone is in overdrive, in a race against time, to help save those who are still alive under the rubble.
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For Dor Friedman, one of the volunteers, it's not the first time he drops everything and rushes to a disaster zone half the world away. He was in Moldova 10 months ago to help United Hatzalah of Israel deal with the crisis in Ukraine, offering assistance to refugees.
He works as an ambulance driver and a first responder at United Hatzalah, where he drives a motorcycle. Although he has become desensitized to gory images of wounded, he knows that what he will see in Turkey is much more complex and exacting. "You don't know where you are going end up; I am preparing myself mentally for the horrific scenes of people with terrible injuries. I join this mission because I believe it is important to help. This is something that is very fulfilling from within. It gives me the daily energy."
From above, everything looks very calm. The snow-capped mountains, the small villages surrounded by farms. The plane arrives at an airport that was not damaged by the earthquake, carrying 17 tons of life-saving equipment. It takes another hour to arrive at the disaster area, and just like us, a Qatari mission is waiting for Turkish logistical officials to help us make our way.
In one of the terminal halls, there are about 40 people who were left homeless by the quake. Most are family members of airport employees. They were given temporary shelter here, sleeping on the floor with the blankets they were given. They will continue to do so in the coming days. Unlike many others, they at least have running water and electricity. They are glued to the television screens, watching live how the reality they had lived in has become hell on earth.
Malek, a 4-year-old girl, is already 24 hours here from her parents. She is scared; smiling only when offered chocolate. "Our home was destroyed," her father Rashid says. "We are both teachers in Gaziantep; we slept one night in our car, but it was really hard because of the frigid temperatures, and now we are at the terminal and we have nowhere to go." Rashid recalled how the earthquake hit their home: "Everything began shaking. It was frightening, I was convinced that my wife had died, but I found her and my daughter and we just fled together."
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