This is the moment when everything must be silenced, people and machines. Any outside noise can undermine the effort. Using a seismic receiver, rescuers will try to pick up even the faintest call for help deep through the concrete rubble. Four firefighters wearing headphones, they move across the slabs of the flattened building until they converge at a point where everyone can hear the call at the same volume. It could be a voice reaching the surface in the form of a whisper, or a thud that the missing person should be buried there.

A rotary drill drills small holes in the rubble through which the camera moves. They direct her to a survivor. Then the approach phase will begin. Firefighters lift concrete slabs, dig and prop, dig and prop, making a narrow hole to burrow where others are unlikely to dare.

These steps, proven over the years in other similar disasters, are being followed by its leaders. Fire Department Special Disaster Response Teamwho work in the area affected by the earthquake Turkey. Thanks to their perseverance, they have already managed to pull people out of dilapidated buildings. Late last night, after a lot of effort, they released the 20-year-old woman. At a critical moment, everyone leans on them.

Greek firefighters managed to rescue a 50-year-old man and his 6-year-old daughter alive from a 14-story residential building that collapsed to the ground. Previously, they also communicated with her 7-year-old sister, who could not be saved and was found unconscious. OUR EMAK team it has hydraulic pressure powered lifting jacks as well as lifting pads that create vital clearances between non-sharp surfaces. They may use a compressor, expander, and other digging tools. The camera they point to the victim also has a microphone that allows for audio contact.

Usually, using information from local authorities or the testimony of relatives of the missing, firefighters choose the place where they will operate. Buildings are being inspected, information is being assessed, and priorities are being placed so that efforts are focused where there is hope of finding and saving. At first, they may even scream, waiting for someone to respond from behind the rubble. Then a specially trained person will be sent rescue dog sense a human presence, and then a second dog to confirm the signal of the first. There is no luxury of wasting time on some wrong proposal.

They will use a geophone, a special device for measuring mechanical vibrations, and then a camera. Once identified, the debris is selectively moved and removed. Any movement must be performed with surgical precision to avoid injury or block the lifebuoy.

This is a mission against time that requires patience, dedication and careful movements.

Inside the hole

“The space in which the rescuer will move can have a width of 40 to 50 points, depending on how quickly he must approach the victim. If it is believed that there is no window of time, then they will dig a narrower hole. Dimitris Simitsis explains “K”., former commander of the 2nd EMAK and expert of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, demobilized in 2019. Are firefighters dangerous during the operation from tremors, from the possibility of another collapse? “When we have a complete collapse of a building, the ruins become stable and the aftershock won’t move them much. The biggest problem is in partially destroyed buildings,” he says.

Digging to get to a stuck one is not an easy task. Materials tend to be wedged and difficult to come out, and if a layer is encountered in its path, it may have to be cut to make room. There are three approaches: horizontal penetration, vertical penetration up or down, and frontal or mixed penetration, the purpose of which is to allow simultaneous multiple horizontal penetration at the same or different levels.

As Mr. Simitsis emphasizes, vertical penetration directly above or below a captured person is prohibited, and a distance of at least two meters from him must be maintained. In addition, the last stage of approach and retrieval is carried out by horizontal penetration. Technical support alone does not ensure a successful rescue. This is a mission against time that requires patience, dedication and keen senses.