Taipei and Taichung on Tuesday held award ceremonies for search and rescue personnel that were dispatched to Turkey after the devastating earthquake earlier this month. One of the rescuers said the mission had a high level of difficulty, due to the different climate of Turkey, as well as the language barrier. The rescue dog unit also had good news to share, as one of the dogs that was sent to Turkey, Hugo, recently passed in important international accreditation test. Let’s hear from the rescuers.
Lin Ching-wen
Taipei City Urban Search and Rescue Team
The mountain roads and the low temperatures… the roads were covered in ice. We were led from one disaster site to the next by locals. By the time we had gone to the fifth or sixth spot, we were more than 3 kilometers away from our base. In the end we had to just walk back by ourselves.
Yeh Ping-jui
Rescue dog trainer
It was also the first time that I went to a disaster zone like that, and I really hoped my dog would find survivors as quickly as possible. It was quite discouraging at the beginning. The first and second days were very stressful. I had doubts over whether the dog had received sufficient training.
Over in Taichung, two other rescue dogs, Tui-tui and Melody were received by Mayor Lu Shiow-yen. The two had a fantastic performance in Turkey, putting all their training to the test in the disaster zone. Together with their handlers, they helped out looking for survivors trapped in the rubble. The two returned to Taiwan on the 15, both in good health.
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