Navigating chaos: Evacuation during the 2023 Turkey earthquake
On 6th February 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck southern and central Turkey and northern and western Syria.
After sending out a ‘Level 4’ alert and activating our Critical Watch protocol, Healix was contacted by one of the world’s top universities to evacuate one of their professors working in Gaziantep, Turkey to the United States.
The challenge
The professor was in an area where there was significant damage to buildings and roads, communication networks were not fully operational and there was a credible risk of aftershocks. Airports were temporarily closed.
Some of our providers were unable to assist as they had been directly impacted by the earthquake. However, through our extensive network we were able to secure, communication, transport, hotels and flights within several hours.
Our approach
Healix immediately stood up an Incident Management Team to deal specifically with the task. We reached out directly to the professor and ascertained he was physically and mentally well, advised him on safety protocols relating to aftershocks, discussed food and water supplies, and liaised with our medical colleagues to ensure a holistic, comprehensive response.
We operate on an ‘assist first’ basis and were able to obtain necessary client authorisations in the background.
We authored an internal concept of operations to ensure a constant and consistent service including scheduled regular two-hourly check-in phone calls with the professor. Having liaised with our team on the ground we authored the plan of action. Communications were established with all stakeholders.
Outcome
The team identified themselves with a pre-agreed password and safely collected the professor. Healix tracked the journey live and sent ‘Real Time Updates’ to the key stakeholders at the University.
The professor was safely transferred to a hotel in Ardin, whilst the ground team remained on standby, as a contingency, and flew to the United States within 48 hours.