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Related Sites International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies |
U.S. health workers help in aftermath of quake
Posted
8-30-99 Ankara, Turkey. American healthcare personnel have rushed to Turkey in the wake of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that left the northwest part of the country in ruins, killed tens of thousands, and left thousands more homeless. Rescue workers are still searching the rubble for survivors trapped in collapsed buildings and homes, but experts project the final death toll to be approximately 45,000 when all the bodies trapped in the wreckage are recovered. The U.S. Embassy in Ankara has said the damage could be as much as $7 billion. The country has also been hit by a series of aftershocks and heavy rains that have added to the misery of survivors and hindered rescue efforts. U.S. military personnel arrived shortly after the quake as part of an international relief effort to offer medical assistance and temporary hospitals in the areas hardest hit, said Air Force Capt. Mike Blass, spokesperson for the military's European command. Blass said there was no timeline on the involvement of the 3,000 Marines and Navy personnel on site. "Our involvement is going to be determined by what the government of Turkey asks for," Blass said. "Right now they have asked for tents and body bags … the medical situation is under control. Now the problem is just trying to find all the dead and trying to find the homeless." The American Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders have also organized relief efforts. American Red Cross spokesperson Leslie Credit said a team of medical staff from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Johns Hopkins University has been sent to help, and more than $1 million has been committed to the effort. Doctors Without Borders has sent 28 people, mostly renal nurses and nephrologists, to help the towns hardest hit, said spokesperson Kris Torgeson. Renal specialists were needed to combat kidney failure as a result of crush syndrome, a common affliction following internal and muscular injury that can lead to deadly levels of blood toxicity, Torgeson said.
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