The “Operation Mercy” team, who have conducted emergency medical relief activities to help earthquake victims suffering from the earthquake in Türkiye, dispatched their third medical relief team following the second deployment. The third “Operation Mercy” team, which arrived in Türkiye on March 7 local time, consisted of a total of 30 people, including 10 doctors, 10 nurses, 1 acupuncturist and a local language interpreter. It is known that the third “Operation Mercy” Medical Relief Team is a global team consisting of medical staff from various nationalities such as Korea, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the UAE.

The third “Operation Mercy” team will be divided into two groups to conduct emergency medical operations in Iskenderun (population 318,780) hospital and the Kırıkhan region. The Iskenderun hospital is constantly visited by earthquake victims, so the “Operation Mercy” team announced that, following the second team’s treatment, the third team will continue providing medical services.

Furthermore, the Kırıkhan District, located in northeast Hatay (population 1.61 million) province, is a small town with a population of 121,028 (2022). The Kahramanmaraş earthquake which hit the region on February 6 caused great damage to the entire district of Kırıkhan and destroyed all the buildings in the city, turning the entire village into a ghost town.

The asphalt road at Kırıkhan-Reyhanlı, located at the beginning of the entrance road leading into Aleppo, Syria, is heavily damaged making it impossible for cars to pass through. And there were cases of some houses located on the mountains sliding down the mountain and falling to the ground.

Amongst the many people who have died in Kırıkhan, there are still over 1,650 people who are unaccounted for, so their relatives are now giving blood samples in order to identify the remains of the bodies that are being found. Kırıkhan is now also being used as burial site to bury bodies of the dead that are coming out of Hatay. And the residents of Kırıkhan are turning their backs away from the destroyed city and scattering into the country side. 

The third “Operation Mercy” Medical Relief Team is partnering with Turkish doctors and primarily treating patients from a clinic in a village area near Kırıkhan.

“After hearing about the earthquake in Türkiye and all the people who lost their families and homes, we felt we must do whatever we can to help them. Coming here, we see that the situation is far worse than we had thought and there is yet still so much need for help. We desire that through our medical team, we will be able to at least take away some of the pain of the victims from the earthquake. More than anything, we desire that the peace and love of Christ would come upon these people who are in the midst of despair.” (Confession of Third “Operation Mercy” Medical Relief Team)

Meanwhile, the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Adil Karaismailoğlu, expressed condolences and mercy to those who lost their lives in the earthquake, describing the earthquake as the "disaster of the century," during a press conference at the Malatya AFAD Coordination Center.

Regarding the loss of lives due to the earthquake, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced after a cabinet meeting that the number of people who lost their lives in the earthquake was 46,104. In the 11 states affected by the earthquake, the number of collapsed, demolished and severely damaged buildings reached 230,000 and the number of autonomous regions reached 645,000.

In a speech, president Erdoğan expressed, “Our goal is to install 100,000 containers within two months in order to transport 500,000 earthquake victims, so that they can live in a better environment”.

Meanwhile, on the afternoon of the 7th. local time, three earthquakes with magnitudes of 4.7, 4.3 and 4.4 occurred in the Hacılar district of Kayseri. Yunus Sezer, president of the AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Agency), said, "There is no damage at this time. Field investigations are continuing." Authorities said they were closely monitoring the situation as the possibility of additional large earthquakes continued to appear.