Why hasn’t the Belgian rescue team B-FAST been sent to Turkey yet? Are we too late with our help? | Massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria

Several rescue teams are searching for survivors under the rubble. Bad weather also complicates the search for survivors. The overall magnitude of the disaster remains unclear and many people are still missing. The WHO fears the death toll could rise above 20,000.

Strangely enough, Belgium will not send a first rescue team until the end of this week. “You should know that our country no longer has search and rescue teams and that is what the affected region needs now,” says the spokesperson for Minister of Development Cooperation Caroline Gennez (Vooruit). “There are also many other European countries that are already doing this. Within that European coordination, it was therefore decided to specialize in a certain domain”. It is not yet clear what exactly Belgium will do. More will be communicated about this in the coming hours and days.

“The comment that we would be too slow is not correct”, says Minister Gennez’s spokesperson, “We are mainly needed at another time in the disaster”. According to the spokesman, it is logical that the rescue teams from other countries have left much faster, because “those first 48 hours are very crucial”. “But even after that, many teams are still needed. The entire infrastructure is in ruins and the long-term injured must also be cared for,” it says.

According to the spokesperson, there is also a chance that search and rescue teams will get in each other’s way: “It is important that the aid is well coordinated by the country itself and that everyone contributes according to their own expertise”.