Hatay is among the cities that suffered the most damage in the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquake. The collapse of many buildings and inadequate conditions made it difficult to reach earthquake survivors living in Hatay. For this reason, a large number of aid was given to the earthquake area from various aid organizations and other cities. Konya Metropolitan Municipality firefighters, who came to the city on the first day of the earthquake and worked on the debris, saved 267 people so far; The bodies of 287 people were found.
İbrahim Navruz, search and rescue chief of the fire department, stated that sound listening methods were very important during the works and said, “When our team came here, we heard the voices of our citizens very clearly. They were able to hear.
SOUNDS BEGAN TO FAIL OVER TIME
We were able to use and remove the equipment we had comfortably. As time progressed, the voices of our citizens under the rubble began to be silenced. Their voices became inaudible. We have to listen with the acoustic listening device and under the wreckage imaging device,” he said.
YOU MUST BE TOTALLY QUIET WHEN LISTENING
Emphasizing that the environment should be completely silent while listening devices are used, Navruz said, “It should provide silence around 500 steps in an area of approximately 250 square meters, because those devices can detect even a small stone movement. While listening, all our citizens should collapse to where they are. We need to try to keep our citizens under the rubble hearing those devices while remaining completely silent. If we pay attention to this, we have removed our citizens at the 162nd hour. We are still waiting for miracles. If we pay attention to this, we will be happy as the search and rescue team,” he said.
IT CAN BE DETECTED WITH A SMALL NAIL MOVEMENT
Reminding that the work with the devices is ongoing, Navruz said, “The devices we have can easily pick up the sound in a vertical position at a depth of 30 meters. We can hear a small fingernail movement, a rubbing against the wall. By listening in this way, we can easily detect the point where the person is.
CRACKING THE WALL WILL BE ENOUGH
We are trying to get our citizens alive by directing the works to that point. Any scratching on the wall will suffice. It will be enough to hit the wall somehow, rub it. Thanks to that device, we can detect the point. In particular, we placed the sensors in our search yesterday. Our teammates call out to the person we hope is under the rubble, saying, ‘If you can hear my voice, rub your hand or nail somewhere’. When our citizens there hear that voice; we can easily detect its location when it makes any rubbing or nail scraping movement. This saves the lives of those under the rubble,” he said.
(DHA)