Earth Quake In Turkey: Teams bring in listening equipment

Rescue

RESCUERS BATTLING to free trapped survivors of the earthquake have been hampered by lack of equipment. But international relief teams arriving in the stricken areas are bringing with them state of the art technology, which will greatly alleviate the situation.

Some of the audio equipment arriving is so sensitive it can detect breathing under tons of rubble, while the cameras can shoot images under the most difficult lighting conditions. The heavier equipment will include jaws-of-life hydraulic tools to lift slabs of steel and concrete.

"We have heat-seeking cameras and we have trapped person locaters," said Graham Payne, director of Gloucester-based charity Rapid UK, which is sending a team of volunteers to Turkey. "We should not have much of a problem."

Simon Webb, a spokesman for the UK fire service search-and-rescue team on the way to Turkey, said: "They have a variety of skills between them and some of them have worked in Montserrat after the volcano, Macedonia on humanitarian relief, and after earthquakes in Kurdistan and Mexico.

"They will be working on the rescues for which more technical equipment is needed, two to three to four days after the earthquake."

Some of the rescuers are equipped with thermal imaging cameras, videoprobes, lighting and cutting tools to help free those still trapped.

However, one of the oldest form of search-and-rescue work is still among the best, said Mr Payne. "The dogs will be number one because of the speed with which they can traverse buildings and find people. They are unbeatable at this."

Communications are also proving a problem and the rescue teams will have satellite systems with them. On a larger scale, fire-fighting aircraft are being sent to control the blazes which have broken out following the tremors.