Why first 72 hours crucial for rescues
Time was running out for survivors buried in the rubble of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, as search efforts near the crucial 72-hour mark, a rescue response expert said yesterday.
More than 90 percent of earthquake survivors are rescued within the first three days, said Ilan Kelman, a professor of disasters and health at University College London. With the 72-hour window closing early this morning, Kelman told AFP why this timeframe is so important.
INJURIES, TEMPERATURE
"Generally, earthquakes do not kill people, collapsing infrastructure kills people," said Kelman, who has published research on quake rescue responses. The most pressing factor is getting medical attention to people crushed under collapsed buildings before "their bodies fail" or they bleed out, he said.
Weather is also a key factor, and "it is completely against us" in Turkey and Syria, Kelman said. "This very sadly means that hypothermia is possible, and people are probably unfortunately perishing due to the weather," Kelman said.
GETTING HELP TO THE SCENE
Kelman said that normally "the vast majority of survivors are brought out within 24 hours by local teams, often using no more than their hands or a shovel."
Dozens of nations have pledged to send search and rescue teams as well as relief supplies to Turkey and Syria. But the quake occurred in "a remote area, in a conflict zone, which is very difficult to get into," Kelman said. It generally takes at least 24 hours for international rescue teams to arrive, get set up and start working.
"At that point, a good number of the people who could have survived have already perished," Kelman said.
HOW TO FIND SURVIVORS?
Once on the scene, there are a range of ways that rescue teams can find earthquake survivors, including dogs which sniff through rubble. A particularly famous team of quake rescue dogs from Mexico is on its way to Turkey, Kelman pointed out.
BEFORE THE 72 HOURS STARTS
Kelman emphasised that "ultimately, a successful rescue operation starts decades before the earthquake to try to stop the infrastructure collapsing in the first place".
During an international rescue operation such as those in Turkey and Syria, it costs an average of $1 million per life saved, he said. "If we would see levels of investment in disaster prevention that we are seeing in disaster response, we would not be in this situation."
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