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[[A U.S.-based search and rescue team is back home, having deployed to Turkey after the country suffered a devastating earthquake earlier this month. Begum Donmez Ersoz report on the specialized team from Fairfax County, Virginia, and the life-saving duties it performed.]]
Content TypePackage
LanguageEnglish
Transcript/ScriptTV US SEARCH & RESCUE TURKEY- Ersoz
HEADLINE: US Rescuers Home After Searching for Earthquake Survivors in Turkey
TEASER: The Virginia search and rescue unit spent 11 days in the transcontinental country
PUBLISHED AT: (2/22/23 & 7:39p)
BYLINE: Begum Donmez Ersoz
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Fairfax, Virginia
VIDEOGRAPHER: Tezcan Taskiran
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: KEnochs, Bowman
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA Original | VOA Turkish Service / Virginia Task Force 1
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _x_ RADIO __
TRT: 2:48
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE:
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO))
[[A U.S.-based search and rescue team is back home, having deployed to Turkey after the country suffered a devastating earthquake earlier this month. Begum Donmez Ersoz report on the specialized team from Fairfax County, Virginia, and the life-saving duties it performed.]]
((NARRATOR)) ((Mandatory CG: Virginia Task Force 1))
Sponsored by Fairfax County’s fire department, ‘Virginia Task Force 1’ or VATF-1, was mobilized outside Washington and sent half a world away to locate and rescue earthquake survivors in Turkey’s southern city of Adiyaman. ((end courtesy))
After an 11-day mission, the unit returned home this week to a warm welcome from friends and family.
((NARRATOR)) ((Mandatory CG: Virginia Task Force 1))
While deployed in Turkey, Virginia Task Force 1 served under the US Agency for International Development, or USAID.
Aided by locals in Adiyaman, the unit searched wreckage and rubble for trapped survivors using listening devices and specialized cameras. ((end courtesy))
((Paul Serzan, Virginia Task Force 1)) ((Male in English))
“Loved ones on top of each rubble pile, each collapsed building directing the rescue workers as to where exactly they lived in that building to try to save their loved ones.”
((NARRATOR))
The team returned home with memories of kindness alongside the tragedy.
((Andrew Johnson, Virginia Task Force 1)) ((Male in English))
“The biggest thing was the people of Turkey, during so much loss, their spirits, their determination, their hospitality — just many families who lost so much — and even in those moments, they were some of the most hospitable people, offering food, offering drinks, offering beverages, offering resources, being a helping hand."
((Paul Serzan, Virginia Task Force 1))
“Life-altering…It just goes to show you people in need, what they’ll do for each other. // We did our best to help out the citizens.”
((NARRATOR))
Family members of the search and rescue team watched anxiously from afar as the unit raced against the clock to save lives in Turkey.
((Joy McLaughlin, Rescue Team Family Member)) ((Female in English))
“The devastation was so bad that I worried for his safety and how he was managing with everything that he was seeing. I know that he is experienced and trained how to deal with it, but as a mother, you still worry.”
((Eron Garza, Rescue Team Family Member)) ((Female in English))
“I was seeing video footage of these buildings the next day just collapsing. So, I definitely was a little more concerned this time because you know in my mind I'm thinking, 'Well if you're searching the rubble and there's a building next to you, what if that one falls?'”
((NARRATOR))
The team returned home safely, with a parting message for the earthquake survivors, tweeting, “We wish you the best as you rebuild and recover.”
((Begum Donmez Ersoz, VOANEWS, Fairfax, Virginia))
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