Turkish man narrowly escapes death as building collapses amid earthquakes clean up
Telegraph, 17 Feb 2023
Turkish man narrowly escapes death as building collapses during debris removal after earthquakes.
A Turkish bulldozer operator narrowly escaped death as a heavily damaged building collapsed during debris removal works in Hatay province after devastating quakes.
Vedat Yildirim, 28, told Anadolu Agency Video News that he survived in moments, jumping from the bulldozer.
Yildirim said he came to Hatay as a volunteer to help earthquake survivors and to rescue people
trapped under collapsed buildings.
The bulldozer operator said he was trying to weaken one of the columns and realized that the other columns were damaged by the effect of the earthquake before the building crashed down.
"At that moment I realized that the building would crash down. Rescuers from IHH (a humanitarian relief agency) warned me by whistling. I jumped from the bulldozer. I couldn’t see anything for a few seconds. I doubted that the building collapsed on me. The IHH rescuers came and pulled me out,” he said.
“No one of us estimated that. Thank God I survived as I noticed early, and jumped out. I have no problem right now. We will continue to work until the debris removal works to end and rescue works come to an end,” Yildirim added.
At least 36,187 people were killed by the two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Feb. 6, the country's disaster agency said on Thursday.
The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in the Kahramanmaras province, affected more than 13 million people across 11 provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig.
Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the strong tremors that struck Türkiye in the space of less than 10 hours.
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#Turkey #Earthquake #Survivors
A Turkish bulldozer operator narrowly escaped death as a heavily damaged building collapsed during debris removal works in Hatay province after devastating quakes.
Vedat Yildirim, 28, told Anadolu Agency Video News that he survived in moments, jumping from the bulldozer.
Yildirim said he came to Hatay as a volunteer to help earthquake survivors and to rescue people
trapped under collapsed buildings.
The bulldozer operator said he was trying to weaken one of the columns and realized that the other columns were damaged by the effect of the earthquake before the building crashed down.
"At that moment I realized that the building would crash down. Rescuers from IHH (a humanitarian relief agency) warned me by whistling. I jumped from the bulldozer. I couldn’t see anything for a few seconds. I doubted that the building collapsed on me. The IHH rescuers came and pulled me out,” he said.
“No one of us estimated that. Thank God I survived as I noticed early, and jumped out. I have no problem right now. We will continue to work until the debris removal works to end and rescue works come to an end,” Yildirim added.
At least 36,187 people were killed by the two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Feb. 6, the country's disaster agency said on Thursday.
The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in the Kahramanmaras province, affected more than 13 million people across 11 provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig.
Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the strong tremors that struck Türkiye in the space of less than 10 hours.
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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/customer/subscribe/digitalsub/3for1/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_pvid_conversion-subscription_editorial-iniative_03-22_EGW-13_organic_youtube
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Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.
#Turkey #Earthquake #Survivors
