Earthquakes – France reinforces relief efforts in Turkey and deploys a civil security field hospital (10 February 2023)
Joint statement by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas France.
In the face of the double earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6, France is further strengthening its mobilization to assist the affected populations at the request of the President of the Republic. As part of the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism, it will deploy a high-capacity EMT2 (Emergency Medical Team Level 2) field hospital in the Adiyaman region on Sunday.
The Civil Emergency Medical Response Element (CESRIM) will be deployed to Turkey to work alongside local rescue forces to provide medical care to those injured by the earthquakes and to support hospitals that have been damaged. With a surface area of 1,000 m2, ESCRIM has 2 operating theatres and can accommodate up to 100 patients per day.
To deploy this autonomous hospital structure, 87 personnel will be mobilized: 45 rescue workers from the Civil Security military formations and 42 firefighters and sailors (from the Bouches-du-Rhône, Gard, Isère, Landes, Lozère, Hautes-Pyrénées and Bas-Rhin fire and rescue services, the Marseille Marine Fire Battalion and the Paris Fire Brigade). These women and men include surgeons, physicians, anesthetists, nurses, midwives, radiologists, biologists, physiotherapists, pharmacists, health care workers, etc. These health personnel will be accompanied by a logistical team to ensure the operation of the hospital.
A civil security prefiguration team left today for the South of Turkey in order to organize the logistics of this deployment in connection with our embassy in Ankara and the team of the Crisis and Support Center of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (CDCS) deployed there at the beginning of the week. The medical structure will be transported by a CMA CGM AIR CARGO A330-200 F aircraft provided free of charge by the CMA CGM Foundation. The medical and logistical personnel who will operate the structure by a second flight chartered by the Crisis and Support Center of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.
This operation, coordinated by the Crisis and Support Center of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and by the General Directorate of Civil Security and Crisis Management of the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas, completes the large-scale assistance of France deployed since Monday evening including two search and rescue detachments under rubble of the Civil Security comprising 136 rescuers and 10 dogs.
