Ecuador Earthquake Medical Support and Humanitarian Aid Operation

Upon an invitation from Ecuador’s official institutions, immediately after the 7.8-magnitude Ecuador earthquake on April 16, 2016, our GEA Search and Rescue team arrived in the area as soon as possible in cooperation with Avianca Airlines to carry out medical and humanitarian work and to support the coordination of volunteer teams in the area, and carried out intensive medical & humanitarian assistance efforts in the area for a week in line with the urgent medical & humanitarian needs in the area. Working in coordination with AFAD, our team completed its work in the region after a week of work and returned to Turkey on the night of April 28.
Our GEA Team, which arrived in the area on April 21, was asked by Emergency Center officials to carry out a medical screening and food assistance study in the regions that were affected by the disaster, but did not receive any assistance. Accordingly, on April 22, 33 patients were examined in the village of Las Pellas in the town of Tierras Amarillas and food aid was provided to 40 families. Then the team reached the village of Puerto Loor, where 20 patients were examined and 36 families were given food aid. On April 23, they were on their way to Jama, one of the most affected cities with the earthquake. Almost all of it was destroyed and the only hospital in the town, where the remaining residents left their homes, was turned into an emergency coordination center. GEA Team, together with the doctors at the emergency center, identified villages that were never reached and in need of urgent support and took action to reach these villages. 62 patients were reached in Huele village in Bigua sector in Manabi region, their examinations and care were carried out and medication was distributed. Afterwards, houses in the forest were visited one by one and food and
hygiene materials were distributed to 74 families.

Our medical team went to the military coordination center with the special request of the military and reached the villages of Pasa Bornaio and Ram Bucha with the soldiers, treated 72 patients in total and distributed medicine. Food, water and clothing were distributed to 120 families in the village of San Jose, which was reached after a difficult forest journey that the teams could not reach after the disaster.

On April 25, in two more villages, Quatro Camino and Jose Loor villages, that had not been reached until that time were visited, the villagers were examined with medical support. Food and water aid was distributed to 34 families in the village of Quatro Camino and to 51 families in the village of Jose Loor.

On April 26, 45 patients were examined and the necessary medicines were distributed in
Campamento village. Food, water and hygiene materials were delivered to 319 families in total and 360 patients were examined.