The earthquakes in south-eastern Türkiye, the worst in more than 80 years, have not only caused a huge loss of life in both Türkiye and Syria, but also led to thousands of injuries, displacement of people from their homes and substantial damage or collapse of numerous buildings, including at least 15 hospitals. Many more health facilities have also been significantly affected.
The Emergency Medical Team Coordination Cell (EMTCC) in Türkiye is now overseeing the work of 29 approved EMTs from 22 countries, with the priority being to support the hospitals that have been damaged in the quakes, as well as those dealing with large numbers of trauma patients.
WHO Global Network Leader Flavio Salio commented on the scale of the task they are up against:
“WHO has initiated the largest deployment of EMTs to a WHO/Europe disaster zone in its 75-year history. These teams are integrated into the Türkiye ongoing health response, providing critical emergency care, surgeries and access to primary care services, while strengthening national capacities for preparedness and response. Our primary focus now is to save lives, care for the wounded, and make sure that those who survived continue to survive”.
Oleg Storozhenko, WHO/Europe’s EMT Focal Point, said, “A key feature of the deployed EMTs is their self-sufficiency. All team members are fully trained, have the skills appropriate for the situation, and bring with them their own equipment and supplies to avoid adding any further burden to Türkiye’s already stretched national health systems”.
Interview with a Turkish EMT
One of the teams that is part of the international response is the 18th Region İzmir UMKE group. UMKE is part of the Turkish Ministry of Health and provides medical assistance in the event of natural disasters and accidents. We managed to speak to two members of the team, Okan Çakal from the Active Disaster Unit and Mustafa Küçük, an emergency medicine specialist.
“Our team reached the affected areas of Hatay province 10–12 hours after the red alert had been issued – something that happened as soon as the earthquakes happened,” Okan told us. “Our team consists of 644 health personnel covering many multidisciplinary dimensions such as specialist physicians, nurses, midwives, paramedics, laboratory, X-ray and anaesthesia personnel”.
Both Okan and Mustafa acknowledge that the task facing their emergency medical team and others is immense, given the number of people involved, the size of the area affected, and the difficulty of reaching some parts of the provinces that suffered severe earthquake damage.
“This emergency is one of the biggest disasters to befall our country. For this reason, we can say that it is the most difficult task our team has ever faced”, Okan acknowledged.
However, despite the daunting challenge ahead of them, the training and preparedness of the team kicked in well before they arrived on the scene, as Mustafa explained:
“As a national medical rescue team, we respond to all emergency situations and disasters as soon as they happen. On the morning of the earthquake, we got ourselves organized and set out from İzmir, arriving at Mustafa Kemal University Hospital – the only intact hospital in Hatay city centre – around 10 pm. Once there, we took over coordination of the hospital and reorganized its services together with the hospital staff. We took over the triage process and supported the teams there with their systems for patient care. We are also trying to establish and manage field hospitals”.
As they are one of many EMTs operating in the areas affected by the Türkiye earthquakes, the shared purpose of all the teams is something that Okan is keen to emphasize:
“The solidarity between the teams feels great. As UMKE members, we teach each other the importance of solidarity, cooperation and, most fundamentally, being a team, with a shared priority of helping people”.
The role of EMTs in emergency situations
EMTs are an important part of the global health workforce, providing extra surge capacity and expertise to countries in response to disasters and health emergencies. Consisting of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other health professionals from across the world, the teams are rapidly deployed to help patients during disease outbreaks and sudden-onset disasters, such as the Türkiye earthquakes.
Professor Johan von Schreeb from the Centre for Research on Health Care in Disasters, a WHO Collaborating Centre, gives some background on how they all began: “The EMT initiative started after the Haiti earthquake in 2010. It now serves as a quality-assured and coordinated global system, like an emergency number that affected countries can call to get clinical surge capacity when needed”.
The role of WHO in the EMT initiative
WHO leads and coordinates the EMT initiative globally, with more than half of the EMT workforce located in the WHO European Region.
When health-related crises happen, WHO assists the ministries of health of affected countries to coordinate the arrival, registration, licensing, reception and tasking of EMTs, integrating them into the existing health system to help to build national capacities for preparedness and response.