Media Home
UN Web TV
UN PhotoUnifeed
TÜRKIYE / GRIFFITHS EARTHQUAKE VISIT
STORY: TÜRKIYE / GRIFFITHS EARTHQUAKE VISIT
TRT: 03:50
SOURCE: OCHA
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNOCHA ON SCREEN
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 11 FEBRUARY 2023, KAHRAMANMARAŞ, TÜRKIYE
1. Tracking shot, debris and tilted building in Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye
2. Med shot, Martin Griffiths, Emergency Relief Coordinator arrives in the city centre of Kahramanmaraş, highly impacted by the earthquake
3. Various shots, search and rescue teams at work
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“There has never been an international response, a Turkish response to a natural disaster, as we see here in these terrible days.”
5. Various shots, search and rescue teams at work
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“More than 100 countries have sent first responders to help in the sort of things that you're seeing behind us, rescuing people who have been under the rubble now for six days.”
7. Various shots, international rescue teams at the Kahramanmaraş base camp
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“The courage of your people, the courage of parents rescuing their families, their children from the rubble, the courage of your first responders, working 24 hours all the time to get people out, hoping for one more sound, for one more person to survive - this is something I will not forget.”
9. Med shot, Martin Griffiths talking to the leader of a Turkish search and rescue team
10. Various shots, people living in a temporary tent settlement waiting in line at hot meal distribution at the Kahramanmaraş Expo Center
11. Med shot, family preparing a meal outdoors in the settlement
12. Various shots, Martin Griffiths entering one of the tents and meeting a family
13. SOUNDBITE (Turkish) Elif Akbaba, displaced by the earthquake:
“My kids were sick, my two youngest. I had taken them to the emergency room and returned home. It was around 4:10 at night. I woke up, turned the lights on, gave medicine to my kids to reduce their fever, did a cold compress, got their fever down. The lights were on. I waited for their fever to go down. It started to shake. I first thought I could have been dizzy. I looked at the light, it was shaking, and it started to increase. I couldn’t stand up because they were sick and lying down. I just held my kids and prayed to God. I couldn’t do anything else.”
14. Med shot, family member serving tea
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“But we're going to need more than that, because the next phase of this tragedy is to look after the people. And I've met some of them already today, to look after the people who've lost their homes, whose children don't have schools to go to, who have no food, who have no money, who depend on the generosity of the Turkish people, the Turkish government and the international community. I am here to make sure that these people also are not forgotten.”
16. Aerial, temporary settlement in Kırıkhan, Hatay, Türkiye
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, met today in Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye, families affected by the earthquake and listened to their stories of shock and devastation.
Griffiths heard directly from affected families sheltering in a tent camp set up for families made homeless overnight by the disaster. He also spoke with search and rescue responders as they were carrying out their operations in the devastated central parts of the city. International UN teams are on the ground to support coordination of the international search and rescue teams.
Speaking to journalists, the humanitarian chief said, “There has never been an international response, a Turkish response to a natural disaster, as we see here in these terrible days.”
According to Griffiths, “more than 100 countries have sent first responders to help in the sort of things that you're seeing behind us, rescuing people who have been under the rubble now for six days.”
The Under-Secretary-General added, “The courage of your people, the courage of parents rescuing their families, their children from the rubble, the courage of your first responders, working 24 hours all the time to get people out, hoping for one more sound, for one more person to survive - this is something I will not forget.”
For Griffiths, “the next phase of this tragedy is to look after the people.”
“And I've met some of them already today, to look after the people who've lost their homes, whose children don't have schools to go to, who have no food, who have no money, who depend on the generosity of the Turkish people, the Turkish government and the international community. I am here to make sure that these people also are not forgotten,” explained the humanitarian chief.
Griffiths is expected to visit the UN-authorised cross-border operation to Syria in the south of Turkey on Sunday. He will then travel to Syria.
The UN will in coming days launch two emergency appeals for Turkiye and Syria to garner international support for the humanitarian relief operation that lies ahead.
Download
There is no media available to download.
