White Helmets deputy speaks on Syria quake rescue

(7 Feb 2023) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ++QUALITY AS INCOMING++ ASSOCIATED PRESS Idlib, Syria via video call - 7 February 2023 ++SOUNDBITES SEPERATED BY BLACK FRAMES, NO CUTAWAYS++ ++ STARTS ON SOUNDBITE++ 1. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mounir al-Mostafa, deputy head of Syria Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets: "The Civil Defence was able to respond simultaneously and efficiently at 20 or 30 locations at the same time and pull out people who were stuck. But today when we talk about the earthquake, there are more than 700 locations that requires rapid intervention. Of course the Civil Defence teams are present in those locations but the available machinery and equipment are not enough to get the job done, and pull out the people who are stuck under rubble quickly." ++BLACK FRAMES++ 2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mounir al-Mostafa, deputy head of Syria Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets: "The situation is really, really tough, we are feeling pain and we have been appealing for aid since the first hours of this earthquake. I swear, we don’t intend to use those tools except to save whoever can be saved. To be honest, when we reach a person who died some 15 minutes or half an hour ago, we really blame ourselves, saying if we had exerted more effort or if we had had more equipment in our disposal, we would have pulled out this person alive from under the rubble." ++BLACK FRAMES++ 3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mounir al-Mostafa, deputy head of Syria Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets: "Honestly, after 30 hours of continuous work, the Civil Defence teams, the White Helmets, which is made up of around 2,800 volunteers all over northwestern Syria, have managed to pull out around 2,200 people alive from underneath the rubble. Unfortunately, the fatalities have reached 825 deaths over the past 30 hours. Those numbers are subject to increase and are updated every hour or two." ++BLACK FRAMES++ 4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mounir al-Mostafa, deputy head of Syria Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets: "There are many stories and this is one of them. She was a pregnant woman in her last trimester and unfortunately, she was one of the victims of this earthquake. She was under rubble and the Civil Defence managed to reach her, she had already given birth just before she passed away. She was taking her final breaths when she gave birth. We managed to save the child but unfortunately the woman passed away." ++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++ STORYLINE: First responders in Syria's rebel-held enclave said on Tuesday its rescue operations in areas devastated by the earthquake have been hampered by lack of equipment and supplies. Mounir al-Mostafa, the deputy head of the Syria Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets, said the group is used to responding simultaneously at 20 or 30 different locations but the earthquake requires the teams to be present in 700 sites. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated parts of southeast Turkey and northern Syria early Monday. The size of the catastrophe that hit the already war-ravaged area is exponentially larger than the ability, resources and equipment of the team that has often been the only lifeline for the area in the face of a punishing military campaign from the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad. The first 72 hours are the most critical during rescue operations that involve digging people out from underneath the rubble, al-Mostafa said. He added that his group has been appealing for equipment and other aid that could make the search operations more efficient. He said 2,200 have been saved by the White Helmets so far, but 825 others died. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...