On 6 February 2023 at 4:17 a.m. Turkish time, an earthquake of 7.8 M occurred with its epicenter near Gaziantep. After noon, another earthquake of 7.7 M hit the area, followed by many aftershocks (about 30 000× over the next three months). The earthquake hit Türkiye and neighboring Syria on area of 350 000 m2. According to the first information, the worst affected cities in Türkiye were Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Hatay, Adıyaman, Malatya, Osmaniye, Kilis, Adana, Sanliurfa and Diyarbakir. Later measurements confirmed that it was one of the strongest earthquakes in Türkiye in the last 100 years.
It affected over 14 million people in Türkiye, approx. 300 000 buildings were damaged or completely destroyed. The earthquake left 115 000 injured and more than 50 000 dead. On the Syrian side, 8.8 million people were affected, more than 11 200 people were injured and 6 000 died.
Türkiye requested assistance through the Mechanism. In addition to in-kind assistance, it requested both search and rescue teams and medical teams. 22 member states and 3 participating states offered a total of 39 teams to Türkiye, including the Czech Republic with a HUSAR team (= heavy USAR, deployed for the very first time).
The Czech USAR (or "CZERT", for "Czech Emergency Rescue Team") was deployed by air within 10 hours of accepting the offer and was thus one of the first teams on the ground. It landed in Adana on the night of 6 February, then moved to Adiyaman, where it remained deployed throughout the mission.
HUSAR consists of Ostrava and Prague segments, in total the team consisted of 69 pax and 8 dogs. On 12 February, the team was supplemented by 2 members, material, equipment and in-kind assistance for Türkiye. On 17 February, the team returned to Prague, where the team was welcomed by, among others, Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan, Turkish Ambassador to the Czech Republic Egemen Bagis, Director General of the MoI-DG FRS CR Vladimír Vlček, director of FRS of Prague Capital Luděk Prudil, Turkish citizens living in the Czech Republic and families of team members. The plane then continued to Mošnov airport in Ostrava. In-kind assistance consisted of clothing, inflatable tents, blankets, medical equipment (MEDEVAC) and trauma kits (ČČK). In total, the Czech team found 3 people alive and extricated 78 dead people during its deployment.
Seismic activity map - Türkiye and Syria - 10 February 2023 (DG ECHO, pdf)
As part of the Mechanism's response, the teams rescued 101 people and treated over 17 500. The European Commission has also provided emergency shelter units and tents and medical equipment and supplies from rescEU stockpiles.
USAR teams from countries around the world were deployed to Türkiye:
In total, 221 USAR teams from 82 countries with 358 dogs and 36 370 rescuers on ground participated in the search and rescue (counted together with local Turkish rescuers).
Online articles about the Czech team and the earthquake in Türkiye on hzscr.cz and elsewhere:
Český USAR tým odletěl pomáhat do Turecka – aktualizováno
USAR tým v nepřetržitém provozu pátrá po přeživších v troskách budov
Český USAR tým zachránil z trosek dva živé lidi, třetího pomohl vyhledat v sutinách
Armádní CASA odvezla do Turecka humanitární pomoc, na palubě byli i dva další členové USAR týmu
Kolegům z USAR týmu se podařilo o víkendu zachránit z trosek 2 přeživší osoby
Hasiči z českého USAR odřadu pokračují v nasazení v tureckém městě Adiyaman
Český USAR tým se dnes vrací domů
Turecký velvyslanec Egemen Bagis poděkoval hasičům za pomoc při likvidaci následků zemětřesení
VIDEO: Záběry z dronu (youtube)
VIDEO: Velitel odřadu v Turecku hodnotí situaci
VIDEO: Poslední záběry z nasazení USAR týmu HZS MSK (youtube)