Cape Town - Dr Simpiwe Sobuwa together with three of his colleagues did not hesitate to offer their medical skills to those in need after the earthquake in Türkiye.
Sobuwa is the acting Head of Department in the department of Emergency Medical Sciences at CPUT, and said working on the frontline where thousands died, left homeless or injured after the earthquake in Türkiye was tough.
“It was quite a tough experience, emotionally and mentally, seeing the devastation in Türkiye, it was a tough pill to swallow, knowing that there were people underneath the rubble where there was once life in the City,” he said.
“It was heart-warming to see the citizens of Türkiye coming to support their own. There were many coming from Istanbul to assist. Even while we were working, we had people offering us food all the time. It was heart warming to see people getting involved in any way they could.”
Sobuwa added they were often rushed from one scene to another where they had to treat patients who could not make it to their base.
“We were based with the other international teams at Hatay Stadium , it was our base throughout the stay. We would move from the Hatay site from wherever we had to move in. and we would move in a convoy of vehicles and another carrying our equipment.
“We only had one patient that we recovered alive and that was the 80-year-old woman, where the dog unit was involved, together with the Omani team.”
He said many were left homeless and the Turkish government was trying to assist people with shelter.
Michelle Cillie Arslan and her family are among the survivors trying to pick up the pieces after the disaster.
She is married to a Turkish national Irfan Arslan and the couple have a nine-year-old son, Serdal.
Arslan, originally from Worcester, has been an elementary teacher for two decades. She and her family managed to escape their home with their cat, Miss Mable, which woke them up when the earthquake began just after 4am on February 6.
Arslan and her family are trying to rebuild their lives after managing to rummage together some of their belongings and documentation. Their home has been damaged with cracks and crevices, and the ceiling shattered.
They are awaiting engineers and inspectors to survey the building and the school where she teaches.
Arslan said the week had been painful as they have had to bury close friends, family and colleagues.
“There is so much grief, it helps to talk to keep your mind off things. We are thinking what we will do for money, where we will live and how we will provide for our child? Right now we do not know anything.’
“We have lost six staff members and many of our students lost their homes and almost everyone lost family members.
If you want to assist Arslan and her family, her mother and friends are rallying to send financial aid to her.