Alex Trelinski
MALLORCAN firefighter, Toni Jaume, has travelled to Turkey to help in the rescue efforts following Monday’s earthquake disaster.
42-year-old Toni from Palma(pictured left with colleague) has been a firefighter for 17 years and has hooked with a specialist team from the International Natural Disaster Rescue Group(GIREcan).
He takes part every year in special practice drills with GIREcan members.
Toni said: “My love for this work led me to make this decision to go over to Turkey”.
“We are a multidisciplinary team of 15 people made up of firefighters, doctors, nurses, architects and a communications officer,” he added.
It’s not Toni’s first humanitarian mission, as back in 2007 he went to Pisco in Peru to deal with the aftermath of an earthquake.
The GIREcan team flew into Adana airport via Istanbul on Wednesday and reported to a United Nations office there.
“After several hours of waiting we chartered a coach to go on a six hour journey close to the epicentre of the earthquake in Gaziantep province, “ explained Toni.
On arriving and witnessing the devastation, Toni commented: “There is no hotel, there is no wi-fi, almost everything is collapsed and communications are going to be difficult.”
“The chances of people being alive since the earthquake is decreasing,” he observed.
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