KADIKÖY MUNICIPALITY TENDS TO THE WOUNDS IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE EARTHQUAKES

On Monday, February 6, two earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6, the epicenter of which was Kahramanmaraş, caused great destruction in Kilis, Diyarbakır, Adana, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Adıyaman, Malatya and Hatay. One of the teams that set out right after the first earthquake that shook Turkey was the Kadıköy Municipality search and rescue team BAK Kadıköy. BAK Kadıköy rescued 17 people from the rubble, including two babies, one 16 months and one 3 years old, and a 72-year-old citizen. Kadıköy Mayor Şerdil Dara Odabaşı went to the region and examined the works on site. In addition, the mobile kitchens and mobile food trucks belonging to the Municipality of Kadikoy started distributing hot meals in the disaster area. In the aid campaign initiated by the Municipality, 43 trucks have delivered 33,119 aid parcels to the region so far.

BAK KADIKOY HAS SAVED 17 PEOPLE

One of the teams that set out right after the first earthquake that shook Turkey was the Kadıköy Municipality search and rescue team BAK Kadıköy. With the call of AFAD, BAK Kadıköy became one of the first teams to reach the disaster area with its 49-person team and search dog Lena, to participate in the search and rescue efforts in the earthquake, the epicenter of which was in the Pazarcık district of Kahramanmaraş and also caused damage in the surrounding provinces, upon the call of AFAD. The Municipality’s search and rescue team with the Intermediate Level Search and Rescue accreditation and the search dog with the Dog Search Teams initially arrived in Adana, then went to Hatay under the coordination of AFAD and started search and rescue operations in the Odabaşı neighborhood. The team pulled 17 people alive from the rubble, including two 16-month-old and 3-year-old babies and a 72-year-old citizen. BAK Kadıköy continues to work on the wreckage.

ODABAŞI ARRIVES IN THE DISASTER AREA

Şerdil Dara Odabaşı, Mayor of Kadikoy, arrived at the disaster area early in the morning on Thursday, February 9th. Odabaşı first went to the Odabaşı District, where the BAK Kadıköy team continued their search. The mayor, who received information about the activities of the rescue team there, said, “We continue to work in coordination with our teams, both from the disaster point and from Kadıköy. We are born again with every soul that clings to life. We are grateful to our BAK Kadıköy, who have become our hope, and also to all of the search and rescue teams.” Odabaşı also examined the work carried out in the trucks of the Mobile Kitchen, which delivers hot meals in the Defne and Samandağ districts of Hatay.

MOBILE KITCHEN DISTRIBUTES HOT MEAL

To distribute hot meals in case of disasters, Kadıköy Municipality has 2 mobile kitchens. These mobile kitchens were deployed in the disaster area. The municipality also sent two mobile food trucks to Malatya. Mobile kitchens in Hatay’s Samandağ and Defne districts and food trucks in Malatya serve 10,000 portions of hot food per meal daily to the victims in the disaster area.

GREAT SOLIDARITY IN THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING

A crisis desk was quickly set up in Kadıköy Municipality right after the earthquake. The volunteer team, consisting mostly of university students, Kadıköy residents and the municipality personnel, sort the aid materials, package them and send them to the disaster area. Aid packages are already being delivered to the provinces of Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman, Malatya and Gaziantep by land and sea, according to the directions from AFAD. Kadıköy Municipality has announced with a post on their social media accounts that the stocks of the needed materials have reached a sufficient level, and from now on, they will only accept tents.

EARTHQUAKE VICTIM DOG BELLA HAS FOUND ITS NEW FAMILY IN ISTANBUL

Kadıköy Municipality brought the 5-year-old Alaskan Malamute dog Bella, who used to live in the Oğlakören Village of Antakya, to Istanbul after the residents of the village whose houses were damaged by the earthquake were evacuated. Bella’s previous owners made a call on social media for someone to adopt Bella and demanded that her evacuation be provided to her new family in Istanbul. When the Kadıköy Municipality teams working in the region saw the call, they immediately took action and had Bella evacuated to Istanbul. Bella was adopted by university student Emek Aylin Lale from Istanbul.