A young girl rescued in Hatay, southern Turkey, on February 7, 2023, following the earthquake, receives medical treatment. UMIT BEKTAS / REUTERS
INTERVIEW – While three successive earthquakes have killed more than 7,800 people and injured more than 20,000 since Monday, Dr. Hervé Roy and the medical team of Secouristes Sans Frontières are ready to go to Turkey.
Member of the association since 2000, doctor Hervé Roy created the medical branch of Secouristes Sans Frontières (SSF) in 2002. Deployed around ten times (Algeria, Iran, Sri Lanka, Grenada, Burma, Haiti, Philippines, Nepal, Saint-Martin), the team stands ready to intervene in Turkey in the coming days, but is still awaiting the green light from the authorities.
THE FIGARO. – You have prepared To go to Turkey with the medical branch of Secouristes Sans Frontières (SSF MT) that you lead. What would your mission consist of?
Doctor Hervé ROY. – If we get permission from the Turkish authorities, we will be sent by the World Health Organization (WHO) to an area that we do not yet know. A mission like this is made up of about twenty people: four or five doctors, five or six nurses, as well as logistics and administrative managers. On site, our role is not to go and find people in the rubble, but to care for them once they have been cleared by the local rescue teams. We have the capacity to treat a hundred people a day, i.e. between 1,500 and 2,000 people over our fifteen days of presence. We provide ambulatory care, that is, care that can be given quickly. When earthquakes occur, people are extracted from a building in ruins or have been injured by falling materials: they have wounds or fractures, or even pathologies such as pulmonary or digestive disorders. If hospitalization is absolutely necessary, we transfer patients to an appropriate medical facility.
We are bringing 2.5 tons of material, including more than 300 kilos of medicine, 200 square meters of tent, a generator, a water treatment unit, an incinerator… not to mention a fortnight’s worth of food for 20 people!
Doctor Hervé Roy, founding member of Secouristes Sans Frontières Medical Team
The first earthquake took place on the night of Sunday to Monday, and the provisional toll amounts to more than 7,800 dead and more than 20,000 injured. Why aren’t you already there?
No NGO can go abroad without the approval of the local authorities. Turkey has appealed for humanitarian aid, but for the moment it only authorizes the intervention of heavy medical teams. We are ready, should this change in the next few days. Moreover, such a mission cannot be improvised. All the people accompanying us are volunteers: their departure must be compatible with their professional constraints. This is why we need about 80 operational people in the association to be able to mobilize a team of about twenty volunteers. Finally, leaving for a fortnight for a medical mission in total autonomy requires heavy logistics: we bring 2.5 tonnes of equipment, including more than 300 kilos of medicine. We also have 200 square meters of tents, a generator, a water treatment unit, an incinerator… not to mention a fortnight’s worth of food for 20 people!
Read also“It rocked in all directions”: the ordeal of the inhabitants of Turkey and Syria bereaved after the earthquake
Given the scale of the disaster, aren’t you afraid of being overwhelmed by requests?
Indeed, the care needs are monstrous and Turkey’s health capacities are not able to meet them. Less because of the quality of the Turkish health care system than the scale of the disaster: if an earthquake of such magnitude hit France one day, we would not be better off. That being said, the local health authorities manage the health logistics: they make sure to assign the patients according to the means of the medical teams. The risk of finding ourselves in a chaotic situation is all the less great when we arrive a few days after the disaster. On the spot, people will have already started to organize themselves.
On the other hand, it is clear that for the volunteers, the pace is very steady during the mission. Generally, we organize rotations so as not to run out. But if the needs are too great, it happens that everyone is mobilized.
Dr. Hervé Roy is ready to leave for Turkey with a team of twenty people to provide care to the victims of the earthquake. Doctor Hervé Roy / SECOURISTES SANS FRONTIERES Medical Team
How much does such a mission cost? How do you fund it?
We estimate that fifteen days of intervention in Turkey with 20 volunteers would cost, all inclusive, between 40,000 and 50,000 euros, which is little compared to other humanitarian teams. We finance our action thanks to public aid, in particular that of the city of Dijon and the department of the Côte d’Or. Finally, when an intervention is being prepared, we launch donation campaigns.
If an earthquake of such magnitude hit France one day, we would not be better off.
Doctor Hervé Roy, founding member of Secouristes Sans Frontières Medical Team
Syria, which has several hundred dead, has also appealed for international aid. SSF MT does he intend to deploy a team there?
No. The humanitarian situation is terrible in Syria. But putting our volunteers at risk is out of the question. However, as things stand, Syria is anything but a secure country. In such areas, armed forces can provide humanitarian care, because they have the capacity to protect those who intervene. This is not our case. It is unthinkable to deploy ourselves in a conflict zone.
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