A-PAD’s local partner organization in Turkey, GEA , immediately responded to the first earthquake that struck the country on February 6. GEA continues search and rescue operations in İskenderun and Antakya.

With 245 team members, as of February 9, GEA rescued 34 survivors from the rubble and the last rescue happened 88 hours after the earthquake. The first 72 hours after a disaster are critical in saving lives and GEA continues its search hoping to find more survivors.

On February 6, A-PAD sent a search and rescue specialist to Turkey and they joined GEA on February 7 to support GEA’s operations. 

GEA’s leader thanked A-PAD’s assistance, “Thank you for joining our team all the way from Japan. The scale of this disaster is bigger than before. Your support is very encouraging and we continue to do our best.”