Three days after the initial earthquake struck south-eastern Turkey, Deborah Swann – the only nurse on the UK’s search and rescue team – crawled into a collapsed house to help save a man who was trapped under his dead father.
A big aftershock then hit, and the team had to evacuate. But fortunately, they were able to get back to the man and after two hours of digging and treatment, he was freed on a stretcher made from a bed headboard.
“Unless you’ve been here and experienced it, you can’t imagine what it’s like”
Deborah Swann
This was one of eight lives Ms Swann and her team helped save in the southern Turkish province Hatay, following a series of devastating earthquakes that struck the area, which borders Syria, on Monday 6 February.
Ms Swann, an emergency nurse and advanced clinical practitioner in Cambridge, is a medic with the UK International Search and Rescue Team (UKISAR), which responds to disasters on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
She is the only nurse on the 77-strong team, which is also made up of urban search and rescue (USAR) technicians, dog handlers, base operators and other medics such as doctors and paramedics.
The team was mobilised on the Monday morning and began their journey to Hatay – understood to be one of the worst affected areas – that afternoon.
They travelled for more than 24 hours and set up camp near the local football stadium, alongside other international rescue teams, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
As soon as the base of operations was up and running, they were deployed.
“There was no way this team was going to wait and have a little sleep and have something to eat. We had to get out on the ground and do what we do best,” Ms Swann told Nursing Times.
Broken down into four sub teams, Ms Swann and her group would be given daily information about an area where “people have heard voices within the rubble”.
Once they arrive at that specific location, “we run the search dogs over the rubble… and they will indicate if there is someone alive,” she said.
They would typically be tasked and on the road before 9am and back to camp, which consists of 77 separate tents, by 10pm, sometimes midnight.
One occasion saw a 20-hour extraction of two live casualties which meant two teams rotated throughout the duration.
“We’ve been snatching sleep, here and there and… we’re adrenaline driven,” said Ms Swann, who was speaking to Nursing Times from Hatay as she waited for a flight back to the UK after the team was stood down earlier this week.
“There’s no way that we can sit back at the base of operations and relax – as soon as we get up, we have breakfast, and we’re ready to go.”
On a typical search and rescue mission, the USAR technicians, who are also firefighters in the UK, “use equipment to break [rubble] and reach and dig down to find people”, said Ms Swann.
“If they are trapped, then the medical team go in and we start to treat the casualties as the USAR technicians are basically digging them out,” she explained.
One of her roles as a medic at the scene is to look after the welfare of the USAR technicians. “If they become injured, they are my priority,” she noted.
It was in the early hours of 6 February when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria. Another earthquake followed soon afterwards, as well as multiple aftershocks.
The World Health Organization confirmed yesterday that more than 31,000 people in Turkey and almost 5,000 in Syria had died as a result of the disaster to date.
Almost 100,000 people are understood to be injured, as well as an estimated 80,000 in hospital.
Concerns are also growing over emerging health issues linked to the cold weather conditions, hygiene and sanitation, and the spread of infectious diseases.
Day three post-earthquake, Ms Swann and her team were called to a man who had been trapped in a house after trying to save his parents.
After running into the house after the first earthquake struck, there was “another earthquake or aftershock which then collapsed the building and then he was trapped”, noted Ms Swann.
“He was still alive, but he was trapped by his leg, and, unfortunately, he was also trapped under his dead father,” she said.
“The thing that struck me the most is when I crawled into the tiny space that he was in, he was right next to his parents and they were dead, and they were holding hands. That was really hard.”
As soon as the USAR technician assessed the situation, Ms Swann was able to start treating the man as he was being dug out, until a “big aftershock” hit.
“We had to get out really quickly just in case the structure collapses,” she said. The team was fortunately only out “for just a couple of minutes” and could return to continue the rescue.
Ms Swann was able to provide the medical care the man required, including by intravenously giving him pain and anti-sickness medications.
“He could then have sips of water without vomiting that back up again, because that’s what he was doing,” she said.
Ms Swann said it was also vital to prepare for crush injuries and crush syndrome and “be ready to treat that”.
“Once he was freed by the USAR technicians, we had to cobble together with a headboard of a bed and something to then lower him down a ladder on ropes so that we could get him out onto the street and carry him to the local ambulance service, and then they take over from there,” she explained.
While it had been positive and “really satisfying” to have been able to free this man, she told Nursing Times that overall it was hard to find the words to describe what the past week or so had been like.
“It’s been exhausting, but also adrenaline driven. There have been some real moments of risk and fear for all the team,” said Ms Swann.
“Unless you’ve been here and experienced it, you can’t imagine what it’s like.”
It had been “devastating to see the people who are left behind and who are desperate for us to help them”, she added.
“But because we’ve been tasked to certain sectors and certain areas where there’s been a definite hit on a live person, we can’t help the people who want to get their dead back so that they can bury them,” explained Ms Swann.
“I certainly think I push the boundaries of nursing”
Deborah Swann
The team has had “very difficult conversations” and has had to “walk away from some very distressing situations”.
“I haven’t processed it yet. I don’t know when I will be able to process it,” added Ms Swann.
“I’m with one of the best teams in the world and the firefighters that I’m working with, the medical team that I’m working with – I don’t think I would get through this without their support.”
While out in the field, she said the medical crew did not see people for their titles and professions, but for the “skill set” they bring.
But having said that, Ms Swann, who has been a part of the UKISAR team for 10 years, said she was the only nurse on the team and had been the only nurse candidate during her selection process when she joined.
“I’ve always had a sense of adventure and always want to push boundaries a little bit,” she said. “I certainly think I push the boundaries of nursing.”