Chinese rescue teams greeted with joy at airport

GUANGZHOU

The Chinese rescue teams who returned their countries after the completion of rescue efforts in the most quake-hit regions have been greeted with applause and Turkish flags at Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, China.

Members of the Chinese civilian aid organization, the Blue Sky Rescue Team, participated in the search and rescue efforts in the southern provinces after the devastating earthquakes.

The team was greeted with applause and Turkish flags by the staff of the Turkish Consulate General to China, Turkish businesspeople and students living in Guangzhou at the airport.

On Feb. 8, China sent a team of 341 rescuers to Türkiye, as the team rescued eight people from the rubble.

Meanwhile, Kazakh team were greeted with Turkish and Kazakh flags by Kazakhstan’s Interior Minister Yuriy Ilyin and Türkiye’s Ambassador to Astana Ufuk Ekici.

Reuniting with their relatives days later, the team’s families stated that they prayed that such a natural disaster would not happen again and expressed that they were happy that the teams returned safely.

One of the Kazakh search and rescue team members said, “We have returned to our homeland. There is joy and peace here, and there is sadness, tears and fear in our other homeland, Türkiye.”

Ilyin and Ekici thanked the team members and evaluated their work as heroic.

Kazakh President Kasım Cömert Tokayev ordered to allocate $1 million from the budget for earthquake survivors.

The government of Kazakhstan also sent 50,000 tons of aid including tents, blankets and humanitarian aid supplies to the earthquake areas.