Turkey-Syria earthquake: How NRDF's dog squad is helping in rescue operations

The dog squad at an rescue operation site. Pic/NDRF

The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey and northwestern Syria has reportedly gone past 35,000 as rescue operations continue. India who has been conducting 'Operation Dost' in Turkey has deputed multiple teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to help in the rescue and relief operations.

Among the teams of NDRF, the rescuers include a dog squad that has been turning out to be extremely helpful in the operations, the NDRF said.

The team miraculously rescued a 6-year-old girl alive, the daring rescue was aided by the cannie who is part of the NDRF's dog squad in Turkey.

The cannie- Romeo and Julie succeeded where machines failed. The dog squad was instrumental in detecting the little girl's whereabouts under tonnes of rubble. Without their help, the little girl could not have survived, an NDRF official said.

The NDRF is currently conducting major operations in a major earthquake-hit Turkey. The teams are making all efforts to save lives from debris. The NDRF team's operations are being carried out in Nurdagi, Hatay and in different parts of Turkey that are severely affected by the earthquake that hit the country on February 6.

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The NDRF said that Julie from the dog squad identified the location of the little girl who was later identified as Beren. The NDRF teams quickly reacted to the sign by Julie and pulled Beren alive from the rubble at one of the spots in Nurdagi.

The canines first sniff the rescue site and on finding people they stop at the spot and give hints to their handlers.

Explaining the importance of the canines during such operations, Praveen Kumar Tiwary, Commandant, NDRF said, "As compared to humans, the dogs can sense more than 200 per cent in such cases and hence they are very useful in such operations. The doge are trained to sense the human scent under the debris and give the signal of a human under the rubble, a rescue operation to pull the human out is then followed."

Commandant Tiwary further added, "at present our three teams with a total number of six dogs are conducting operations in Turkey. It is with the help of these canines that our teams were successful in finding two girls- aged 6 and 8-years-old."