Türkiye earthquake 2023 - rescuers in Adiyaman

At 4:17 a.m., while people slept in their beds, a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck southern Türkiye. A second quake, measuring 7.6, followed nine hours later. These powerful tremors, described as the “disaster of the century,” caused catastrophic destruction.

More than 53,500 people lost their lives, over 107,000 were injured, and around 3 million were displaced from the affected regions to other parts of Türkiye.

Within hours of the first earthquake, Serve On sent out a call to determine who was available for deployment. Unfortunately, the request for international assistance was delayed, and by the time we received authorisation to deploy, much of the critical “golden 72-hour window” for saving lives had already passed.

Serve On volunteers searching for survivors.

Adıyaman was among the provinces worst affected by the disaster. Thousands of buildings were either destroyed or severely damaged. The city centre was virtually levelled, leaving tens of thousands homeless. Adıyaman province alone recorded 8,327 deaths. According to the UN Development Programme, the February 2023 earthquakes generated around 100 million cubic metres of debris and waste — roughly ten times that produced by the 2010 Haiti earthquake — with Adıyaman being a major contributor. Debris removal continued for many months afterwards.

The sheer scale of the destruction meant that the number of search and rescue teams was initially far too small to reach every collapsed building at once. The first 72 hours were critical for saving lives, but the enormity of the disaster, coupled with severe infrastructure damage and blocked roads, made reaching survivors incredibly difficult.

When our team finally arrived, we faced further challenges. The earthquakes had struck in winter, with temperatures near or below freezing, and heavy snow and rain in some provinces. These harsh conditions made rescue operations even more difficult, increased the risk of exposure for those trapped under rubble, and heightened the urgency of our work.

Our International Response Team (IRT), working alongside other international teams, operated tirelessly — using specialist equipment including sniffer dogs, listening devices, thermal cameras, and heavy rescue tools such as saws, drills, torches, and hydraulic concrete breakers — to locate and extract survivors from the wreckage.

Despite the immense challenges, the search and rescue teams in Adıyaman achieved remarkable successes, pulling survivors from the rubble days after the initial quakes. Their perseverance and cooperation were a testament to extraordinary courage and international solidarity. Rescuers faced extremely difficult and often traumatic conditions — though nothing compared to what the local survivors endured.

During one United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) briefing, we were asked to watch for children displaying what was referred to as “Still Face” — a symptom indicating that a child might be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after witnessing or experiencing trauma. Such children needed urgent psychological support.

We were encouraged to carry small toys for boys and girls, to offer to these children in the hope of helping them emerge from their state of shock. Fortunately, the Turkish Government had mobilised thousands of psychologists from across the country to provide immediate mental health support to those affected.

We remember those lost in the earthquake, and thank all of our supporters for helping us save lives in these tragic circumstances.