© @WalesOnline/Rob Browne Emma Atcherley responded to earthquakes in Turkey
A brave firefighter has told of the distressing scenes she responded to while responding to devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Emma Atcherley, is based in Cardiff and is a crew manager South Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
The hero also volunteers as part of the United Kingdom International Search and Rescue Team (UK-ISAR) and witnessed the destruction in the Middle East first hand in February this year, with some incidents staying with her forever, reports Wales Online.
One particular rescue mission saw a woman saved by Emma and her crew after she had survived solely by drinking her own urine as her building had collapsed under the weight of the decimation of the natural disaster.
Emma had just touched down from Sweden on February 6 from a training exercise and returned to her family but within hours was deployed to respond to a major earthquake in Antakya, Turkey and parts of Syria.
She said upon arriving: “The noise was incredible with the sound of sirens 24-hours a day as ambulances rushed around and diggers worked everywhere. The air was absolutely filled with dust and the people you came across were clearly in shock, upset and distraught. As time went on the smells started to change as people died in the rubble.
“It was sombre and frantic with emotions ranging from people being incredibly happy and thankful to us for saving their loved ones, to being so upset that we couldn’t help them because their loved ones had already died.
“It all happened very quickly. We had cold weather training in Sweden to make sure we are ready for disasters like this. We arrived home from Sweden in the early hours of Monday morning and by 6am we were told we were going to Turkey.
“I had a sleep and didn’t have much time to unpack my stuff before I had to check I had all the right kit and made my way to Birmingham airport. We didn’t have much time to think about it but we knew it was a big earthquake. Although we had access to the news and we could see what was coming out at that point, it was hard to imagine what exactly we would be faced with.
“As we drove into the city in the morning it was complete chaos. There were ambulances and cars everywhere, it was so noisy. It was very difficult to get around and I can’t imagine what that place looked like before the earthquake happened. I’ve seen pictures since and it looked absolutely beautiful, but every building had either completely collapsed, partly collapsed or had holes in the side where bricks had come down.
“There were no buildings that were not affected in any way in the entire city and whole roads had disappeared under the rubble. At our base at Hatay stadium there were big cracks in the floor and damage to the stadium itself.”
Emma and her team of 77 volunteers were split in to groups to carry out rescues in various parts of the torn apart city. She was deployed to a residential area and witnessed some distressing scenes. After the week’s rescue mission she says eight people were saved ranging from children to the elderly.
She recalled one story of the woman who had survived by drinking urine and a man whose legs were trapped as he was stuck next to his parents who had died.
She added: “It took us about four hours to dig a man out who had his legs trapped. He was trapped next to his parents in a block of flats and unfortunately they had died next to him. He had a serious crush injury to his leg and may well have lost his leg since, we don’t know.
“There was one lady in her 50s who had been trapped for five days and survived by drinking her own urine. She was really strong and vocal, but while she was trapped she thought it was only her building that had collapsed. It must have been mind blowing to her when she came out to see the destruction of the entire city. She had no idea it had happened.
“We had another couple heavily entombed in a six-storey building that had completely collapsed. We could hear them but we didn’t know where they were in the building and it took us a lot of time to find where they were. In the end we went from the building next to them which was still standing. We went through the wall of that building and through a small tunnel where they were and it took 20 hours to rescue the two of them because of how deeply entombed they were.”
The mother-of-two returned home to her family and says she was overwhelmed to receive a video from some of the people they rescued.
She added: “When we got home it almost felt like it didn’t happen. I have two small children who were very happy to have me home and I immersed myself back into home life. Everybody wanted to know how it was, but it was hard to describe afterwards.
“We’ve since had a video message from one of the people we rescued. [In the video] he was with his children and his mum and other family members. That whole family has been affected by him being rescued, it affects far more people than the person you rescued. We had found him trapped in a collapsed building with a lady.
“They were there for five days trapped in a stairwell together. There were two buildings on either side which were still standing and then their building completely collapsed down. It was the kind of collapse where you don’t usually find survivors.”
In April, she was awarded the Community Award of Excellence and Achievement by her local council. She admits she was delighted.
She added: “I had a phone call from someone at the council who said each year they ask the community if there is anyone they think has gone above and beyond to recognise them in an awards community. She said someone in the village saw what we had done and wanted to nominate us for the award.
“We didn’t expect it at all, it was really nice that someone thought what we did was worthy of note and enough to nominate us.”
Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond – Sign up to our daily newsletter here .