Survivors trapped under rubble face hypothermia threat
The Turkish government has dispatched thousands of search and rescue workers to southern Turkey, which was hit by two earthquakes, but they are facing a formidable enemy: hypothermia.
But rescuers and survivors face a formidable enemy: hypothermia.
Several earthquake-hit cities like Malatya, Kahramanmaras, Gaziantep, and Diyarbakir face cold, rain and even some snow as temperatures dip near zero.
Bulent Ozmen, an academic specialising in disaster management, told Middle East Eye that the temperatures will drop further at night as the digging becomes more challenging due to darkness.
And meteorology engineer and disaster management specialist Mikdat Kadıoglu said people could be victims of hypothermia even if the temperatures stay above zero.
Dr Servar Yilmaz, the chairman of Hatay Doctors Chamber, said there was snow and rain in the city and serious cold. “We have to be fast to reach the victims,” he said. “They may just die out of cold weather rather than the actual injuries they have.”
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