Three Medi Response KwaZulu-Natal search and rescue members have joined an international effort to assist in earthquake-affected areas in Turkey and Syria, as part of the Gift of the Givers Foundation’s team.

The earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, hit south-east Turkey near Gaziantep on Monday morning and has affected an estimated 13.5 million people.

At the time of publication, the death toll had reached 11 200, with thousands more injured and missing. That number is expected to rise as the area is experiencing frigid weather conditions, with temperatures as low as -5°C.

“The Gift of the Givers picked a team of 25 from across the country. We will be deployed alongside teams from Korea, Japan, Russia and the USA to help with search and rescue operations as thousands of buildings have collapsed and thousands of people are still missing,” says Medi Response spokesperson, Paul Herbst.

The group will travel to one of 10 cities that were among the worst affected.

“We arrived in Turkey this morning [yesterday], around 48 hours after the initial earthquake. We are currently awaiting a two-hour domestic flight this evening which was delayed because the weather has made flying difficult,” Herbst says.

Once they reach their destination, the team has two hours of further ground travel to negotiate, after which it will be full days of search and rescue work.

Per Reuters reports, internal aid has been slow to arrive, leaving thousands of people at risk as they brace for further poor weather conditions.

“Hypothermia is a significant worry, which means finding these people as quickly as possible is very important,” says Herbst.