Feature: Chinese rescuers race against clock in quake-hit Türkiye

Members from the Blue Sky Rescue Team conduct rescue work in the Malatya province, Türkiye, Feb. 10, 2023. (Blue Sky Rescue Team/Handout via Xinhua)

ANKARA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Standing on the debris in the southern Turkish city of Malatya with fingers frozen in a temperature of minus seven degrees Celsius, Zhu Yanjun, a 49-year-old Chinese woman, was racing against time with her fellow members from the Blue Sky Rescue (BSR) team to search for signs of life.

Soon after the twin earthquakes of 7.7 and 7.6 magnitudes hit Türkiye's southern part and devastated almost 10 provinces, Zhu signed up for rescue missions in the earthquake-ravaged region right away.

It is Zhu's first mission abroad since she has joined the BSR team, a Chinese civil relief squad, in central China's Hunan Province in 2019.

"My father was a soldier and he is the person I respect the most. My dream of donning the uniform to help others finally came true," she said.

Zhu, after joining rescue workers from other BSR teams in Wuhan, flew to Istanbul Airport on early Thursday, bringing endoscope cameras, radar life detectors, demolition and rescue equipment and other necessary resources. Then they flew to Malatya to carry out rescue missions.

Members from the Blue Sky Rescue Team, a Chinese civil relief squad, participate in rescue operation in Malatya, Türkiye, Feb. 10, 2023. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

"Rescue operations in Malatya are urgent and complicated as over 200 buildings have collapsed," said Jin Can, a member of the Hunan BSR team.

As soon as the Chinese team arrived, they were called to investigate the situation of all collapsed buildings so as to effectively make rescue plans.

"In order to put the radar life detectors at the furthest point in the debris, our team members often had to take off their coats and crawl into holes under the rubble," Jin said.

A member from the Blue Sky Rescue Team conducts rescue work in the Malatya province, Türkiye, Feb. 10, 2023. (Blue Sky Rescue Team/Handout via Xinhua)

Chinese rescuers, including an 82-member Chinese rescue team, the BSR team and other Chinese civil relief squads, have managed to rescue at least six survivors so far.

Overseas branches of Chinese companies are also lending a helping hand.

Upon learning of the earthquake, Hunan enterprises Zoomlion and SANY Group made quick responses and participated in earthquake rescue efforts, which helped save many people trapped under the debris.

The Zoomlion's subsidiary in Türkiye arranged several excavators and sent overnight a rescue team of engineers and drivers to quake-hit Hatay province.

SANY Group also quickly carried out disaster relief operations. Within one day after the earthquake, three rescue teams were mobilized, along with dozens of excavators, cranes and service vehicles, to rush to the worst-hit areas.

Printed on the boxes of supplies donated by SANY Group was a Turkish proverb "Dost kara günde belli olur," which means "A friend in need is a friend indeed."

To the Chinese friends who came to the rescue, local people showed an outpouring of gratitude.

When Zhu worked on a ruin in Malatya, a senior local woman whose relatives had been missing, kept watching at the site. She gave a thumbs-up to the rescuers, and insisted on shaking hands with Zhu.

Noticing that Zhu's fingers were frozen stiff, the old lady immediately unbuttoned her coat and tucked Zhu's hands under her arms to make them warm.

"I didn't expect her to do that at all. At that moment, I felt that love has no national boundaries," Zhu said.