Chinese rescue team leader, Zhou Ming, said he was present in Türkiye after the 1999 earthquake, too, and still remembers how fast Turkish people rebuilt after that deadly disaster.
Reminiscing about the “beautiful” reconstruction effort after the powerful 1999 earthquake in northwestern Türkiye, China’s national rescue team leader said he believes Turkish people “will quickly build a nice society” after the devastating February 6 quakes.
“I personally went to the Izmit earthquake zone in 1999. I’ve seen it (damage) there, too. Then, I witnessed Türkiye’s beautiful reconstruction works,” said Zhou Ming, director general of China’s Department of Earthquake and Geological Disaster Rescue on Thursday.
A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the city of Izmit in northwestern Türkiye on August 17, 1999, causing over 17,000 deaths.
“That’s why I think the Turkish people will quickly build a nice society after this earthquake,” the Chinese disaster worker told Anadolu Agency as he was heading back to his home country after taking part in search and rescue efforts in the city of Antakya, hit particularly hard by February 6 massive tremors.
Zhou and his 82-member team had been in southern Türkiye since February 8, two days after twin earthquakes struck the region. They flew out of the country on Thursday night.
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Healing wounds
Accompanied by China’s top diplomat in Türkiye, Ambassador Liu Shaobin, at Adana Airport, Zhou said: “The Turkish people will heal their wounds and build a better family and society as soon as possible.”
Zhou said China’s national earthquake agency is “instantly” aware of earthquakes above magnitude 5, classified as moderate on the Richter scale.
“Therefore, if an earthquake occurs in Europe, for example on this side (of the world), we will have this information within 30 minutes,” he said.
“That’s why after the earthquake, such information was transmitted to my phone,” Zhou said of the recent tremors in Türkiye on February 6.
Zhou said the earthquakes of 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude occurring “on the same day is actually not something that is seen very often.”
“That is something extraordinary,” he said.
At least 38,044 people were killed while thousands of others were injured after magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 epicenter in southeastern Kahramanmaras province hit Türkiye on February 6.
More than 13 million people have been affected by the devastating quakes across ten other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig.
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