The testimonies of the EMAK executives that were conveyed by their colleagues are shocking – “There is value in retrieving the dead to hand him over to his family – Behind the dead there were living people”, they described
Reporting by Makis Synodinos
Unspeakable painmajor disasters and the dilemma of who to save first are faced by the members of the Greek mission that has moved to earthquake-stricken Turkey.
Major General Athanasios Balafas, head of the Operations Branch of the Fire Brigade Headquarters, conveyed the testimonies of his colleagues who are in the place affected by the deadly earthquake.
Obviously excited it was mainly when he referred to his colleagues Mr. Nikas and Athanasopoulos who are participating in the rescue investigations.
It is reminded that Athanasopoulos is the firefighter who retrieved a child alive from the ruins, with the camera capturing him crying.
Nikas is the fireman, whose father saved lives in the 1995 earthquake in Aigio.
“Two and a half days we are in a building block. This shows the scale of the disaster. It is huge,” said Mr. Balafas characteristically during the briefing at the Ministry of Civil Protection.
He added that “the result we have so far is five alive people who have been freed from the ruins and another five dead”.
Describing the size of the disaster, the lieutenant general said that “unfortunately we have left some dead people in the places where there is debris” clarifying that based on the protocol you cannot waste time in such a disaster when you have voices calling for help next to you.
Explaining his words, he added that even “the dead being given to his family is a very important job. We are also in danger of dying.”
Mr. Balafas also said that “there were times when we had to retrieve the dead because behind them there were live ones” adding that “in Turkey at the moment from a brief review we did there are 88 teams in the field. The number is huge. And another 14 teams that will also be in Turkey in the next few hours.”
The new chief of the fire department, Georgios Pournaras, addressed the briefing, who, after congratulating the Greek firefighters operating in the earthquake-stricken areas, closed with a quote from Kazantzakis:
“Man when he feels pain is alive…. But when he feels the pain of another then yes he is a Man.”
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