The first group of search and rescue personnel sent by Taiwan to assist in search and rescue operations in Turkey following the devastating earthquake on Feb. 6 has not yet reached its destination due to weather and environmental factors.
Roads in Turkey's Hatay Province were flooded after the earthquake on Feb. 6 resulted in intruding seawater and ruptured pipelines. The Taiwan-Reyhanli Centre for World Citizens is located in this province, near the border with Syria. It is housing several hundred women and children. The disaster area currently has no water or electricity, so there is no heating at the center. It has offered its diesel generator to people to use to charge their phones, and estimates its supplies will only last one to two more weeks. It doesn't know whether its supplies can be replenished.
Chiu Chen-yu, CEO, Taiwan-Reyhanli Centre for World Citizens: “Supplies may come in, but I don't know whether how much will be left when they ultimately get to Reyhanli and the Taiwan-Reyhanli Centre for World Citizens because resource allocation to disaster areas is always a political issue, especially to one with so many Syrian refugees.”
The centre said Reyhanli doesn't have a government and plundering, insurrections, and looting are all concerns. Taiwan previously donated huge quantities of supplies to Ukraine, resulting in freight costs of more than NT$200 million. This time, the centre worked with the Taiwan government to set up a Taiwan depot in the city to effectively classify supplies and provide precise assistance. Meanwhile, the first group of search and rescue personnel deployed by Taiwan remains en route to their destination.
Lin Yu-chang, Interior Minister: “It was estimated that it would take four hours for the first group of search and rescue personnel to reach the disaster area and start their work. However, they're only halfway there after seven hours. You can imagine what it's like there, and how terrible the environment is. ”
Interior Minister Lin Yu-chang said the personnel would stay in the disaster area for as long as they're needed.
強震後海水倒灌加上管線破裂，重災區哈塔伊省的道路汪洋一片，夜晚走訪緊鄰敘利亞的土耳其台灣中心，這裡收留了數百位婦女和孩童，由於災區呈現斷水斷電、沒有暖氣的狀態，台灣中心提供柴油發電機給災民充電，預估物資勉強還能撐一到兩個禮拜，但後續物資能不能順利補給，連志工自己也不知道。
台灣雷伊漢勒世界公民中心執行長裘振宇表示：「當這些物資進來的時候，我都不知道最後能夠到雷伊漢勒市、到台灣中心的時候還剩多少，因為在這種災後的地方，在災區、尤其是敘利亞難民這麼多的地方，資源分配永遠都是政治問題。」
裘振宇表示，雷伊漢勒市目前是無政府狀態，災後容易出現掠奪、暴動或搶劫，加上台灣人當時捐贈烏克蘭物資爆量，衍生巨額運費2億多元引發爭議，因此這次與台灣政府將在當地設立台灣倉庫，有效分類物資，精準幫助災民，不過第1批出發的搜救隊截至中午仍在路途上。
內政部長林右昌指出：「我們第1梯次的搜救隊員，原本預計4個小時就會到達災區展開救援工作，不過目前為止他們還在半路，時間已經經過7個小時，所以各位就可以想像現場環境有多麼惡劣。」
至於搜救隊將在災區停留多久，林右昌回應，只要災區有需要、人力可以負擔，台灣搜救隊將在當地持續救援。