In February this year, Turkey was hit by the deadliest earthquake in more than 80 years. Soon after the earthquake, the Chinese equipment in "aurora green" arrived at the hardest hit Hatay Province for rescue, bringing the victims the dawn of hope. The logo "ZOOMLION" on the equipment was remembered by all. The rescue represented the love of each ZOOMLION people from thousands of miles away. They run across mountains and seas, raced against time and fought against the disaster, only to raise the hope of life for the local residents. With respect for life, ZOOMLION helped the victims go through the hard time, and it won the support and recognition of the people of Turkey as it practiced the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind with real actions.
On February 6, Turkey was stricken by two consecutive earthquakes of a magnitude of 7.8, the world's largest earthquake in the past year, causing heavy casualties. ZOOMLION Overseas Company promptly reported this incident to the main senior leaders of ZOOMLION. ZOOMLION immediately launched an emergency plan and required the Overseas Company's branch in Turkey to actively participate in the rescue.
ZOOMLION Overseas Company contacted Kayimu (卡伊木), Manager of Turkey branch, and formed an emergency rescue team including the Service Manager Harun, the Excavator Service Engineer Huang Yunbing and the Service Engineer Yu Ke. At 8:30 p.m. on February 6 (local time), the rescue team rushed to Hatay Province with five new excavators, as well as electric blankets, emergency medicines, food and other materials urgently needed in the disaster area.
It is 1,064 km from Istanbul to Hatay. The team was expected to arrive at 11:50, but they were caught in a blizzard in Ankara. In the night of a dozen degrees below zero, they drove through the wind and snow all night, and finally crossed the snowstorm and road blockade. After 16 hours, they arrived at Hatay Province at around 13:00 local time on February 7.
After arriving at Hatay, the rescue team immediately contacted the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority of Turkey (AFAD). Under the unified dispatch, the rescue team entered the earthquake-stricken area at 1:00 a.m. on February 8 as the first Chinese equipment force to arrive at the rescue site. "We saw devastated streets and large areas of ruins everywhere. People were trapped down there, they were very weak and dying. Some local rescuers were shouting at the gaps in the ruins, hoping to get some answers," Huang Yunbing recalled. The whole situation was extremely worrying, and the only thing they could do was to save people as soon as possible.
Due to the shortage of excavator equipment, all the 5 excavators were allocated to different buildings in the urban area to start excavation under the arrangement of the local command center. Collapsed, broken and cracked buildings were everywhere on the site. The local power supply was interrupted, and some professional breaking equipment could not be used. In order to ensure the safety of the trapped people, rescuers used hammers, awls, shovels and other tools to manually dig out a rescue passage. It took more than 3 hours to rescue the first trapped person.
"We just wanted to save more people as soon as possible," said Yu Ke, who has a special attachment to the people of Turkey, "Here, the local employees, customers and residents were very nice to me. We often hug and even kiss each other on the cheek when we meet. That is what we do to a very close friend in China". Yu Ke has worked at ZOOMLION for 17 years and has been a party member for 16 years. He devoted all his energy to searching for trapped people and maintaining the normal operation of excavators and cranes on site all day long, which was a great help to improve the rescue speed.
On the afternoon of February 9, the rescuers found an old woman in the ruins. A collapsed floor slab fell on her body and she couldn't move. She kept calling for help, but her voice was getting weaker and weaker. The rescue team nearby immediately rushed there. Upon checking, they found that the ruins were formed by the collapse of a 7-story building. The whole building had fallen backward due to the damage of the foundation, with an inclination angle of more than 30°. The old woman was trapped on the second floor, so the rescue was faced with many difficulties.
With a full knowledge of the situation, ZOOMLION rescue team immediately discussed with the local personnel to formulate a rescue plan. According to the plan, the excavator was operated to clean up the debris nearby, and carefully approached the woman in the meantime, thus to allow the rescue personnel to climb over for rescue. The old woman was finally rescued at 17:00 p.m. local time on February 9, which was more than 85 hours after the earthquake.
"There was a little girl about 15 years old that I remembered very well. When I got into the rescue passageway, I saw her pressed down by a mattress and a slab. Only her head could move, and she was making a faint and painful crying sound. After confirming the plan to use two jacks to jack up the slab, we immediately took a jack from the crane and borrowed another one from the nearby rescue team. We lifted the slab to a certain height, and then we pulled her out," Huang Yunbing recalled. The shortage of generators at that time caused great difficulties in tearing down broken houses.
Despite many difficulties in the rescue work, the ZOOMLION rescue team still tried its best to protect the lives in the ruins. In order to seize the golden rescue time of 72 hours, Yu Ke, Huang Yunbing and Harun worked for more than 12 hours a day and searched an area of about 2,000 square meters. They just had some millet porridge when they were hungry and took a nap in the service car when they were tired. Tough conditions were not a problem, and every successful rescue was a great encourage for them. Nothing is more important than life.
It was very hard for Harun to see his compatriots suffering. He collected the rescue information and equipment needs and timely reported to Kayimu. In just one day, the excavator equipment of ZOOMLION arrived in the disaster area to assist in rescue. On February 9, in addition to the first batch of 5 excavators, more than 20 ZOOMLION facilities such as excavators, crawler cranes and truck cranes were involved in the rescue operation at the disaster site, contributing to a stronger rescue force.
"Although there were several aftershocks, they had little impact on us," Huang Yunbing recalled, "one night, it felt like death was right beside us. Someone said that the seawater had flowed back into the area where we were located. At that moment, my mind went blank. When I came back to my senses, I even thought about calling my family to say goodbye. Fortunately, it was a hearsay, so I breathed a sigh of relief."
ZOOMLION quickly reported its participation in the earthquake rescue in Turkey to the Department of Emergency Management of Hunan Province, which then reported to the National Emergency Management Department. The National Emergency Management Department fully affirmed ZOOMLION's righteous action, and dispatched a professional rescue team from China's international rescue in Turkey to support ZOOMLION's local rescue. At 12:18 p.m. on February 10, ZOOMLION rescue team met with the China National Emergency Rescue Team. "When we saw the professional national emergency rescue team sent by our homeland, everyone was very excited. When they detected vital signs, we helped clean up the ruins. We cooperated with each other very well. At that moment, I was proud of being a Chinese, "said Huang Yunbing.
The second batch of ZOOMLION rescue teams arrived at the site at midnight of February 11 local time. This time, ZOOMLION sent mobile service vehicles, which had a larger space and could provide gasoline for the equipment after arriving at the site. The employees of ZOOMLION also brought masks, gloves, disinfection supplies and other living materials. They persisted in making every miracle happen and never gave up any opportunity.
Miracles kept coming! A 70-year-old man was rescued after being trapped for 121 hours; at 18:51 local time on February 11, a little boy trapped in the rubble for 150 hours was rescued. As of February 17, the members of ZOOMLION rescue team had stayed in the ruins for 216 hours and rescued more than 30 trapped people from the debris, which was highly recognized and praised by the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Istanbul.
Since the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, ZOOMLION has participated in many earthquake rescue operations. Over the years, ZOOMLION has manufactured a series of intelligent, reliable and efficient emergency rescue equipment. In addition to rich rescue experience and strong emergency rescue capabilities, the complete emergency rescue system also provided a favorable guarantee for this rescue operation. When a natural disaster occurs, ZOOMLION cooperates with nearby customers to participate in the rescue through the Internet of Things and other means. In the emergency rescue of various disasters, ZOOMLION's heavy equipment was always one of the first to arrive at the disaster site.
General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the philosophy of "people first and life first" in his statement on emergency rescue and disaster relief. In the earthquake rescue in Turkey, ZOOMLION always breathed the same air as the local residents, and shared the same future with the disaster victims, and won the unanimous recognition of the people of Turkey by demonstrating the "China speed in emergency rescue". Facing the lofty mission bestowed to the equipment manufacturing industry in the new era and the national requirements of "multiple types of disaster and integrated emergency response", ZOOMLION will keep its mission firmly in mind and take responsibility with bravery. ZOOMLION will take the initiative to advance with the new situation and undertake new tasks of national emergency rescue with the ZOOMLION spirit of "sincerity, perseverance, benevolence, love and self-improvement", and deeply integrate with informatization and intelligence, as part of its effort to build a mechanical emergency rescue team with rapid response and excellent conduct, and make new contributions to preventing and resolving major and extraordinarily serious disaster risks.
