32 CPD officers set off to Turkey on 6 February, to aid in rescue efforts after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake left tens of thousands dead.

The number of confirmed deaths in Turkey due to the earthquake rose to 41,020 as of Sunday night, according to the national disaster agency AFAD. The rescue efforts in Turkey and Syria are extremely important, even now. A couple and their son were pulled alive from under a collapsed apartment building more than 12 days after the quake for instance, although the child later died at a hospital, Turkish state media reported Saturday.

Two of the Maltese officers who went to Turkey were interviewed by The Malta Independent on Sunday - Station Officer David Cassar and Leading Officer Jonathan Callus.  The 32 Maltese CPD officers who went to Turkey spent a week there (they returned on 13 February), digging through rubble in the hopes of finding someone alive.

The Maltese team found 18 victims while on their mission. “Unfortunately we found nobody alive,” one of the CPD officers said, but “we left 18 families at peace, knowing that their loved ones were found.”

Helping find the deceased brings peace to families who were looking for their loved ones, and would mean that proper burials can take place. Families can then hopefully start to heal.

By no means were the Maltese officers in some safe place while conducting their work - tremors were frequent and buildings unstable. Indeed nothing is safe about a disaster zone. But their extensive training helped them a lot. “Around a week before we went to Turkey, 18 officers had just come back from adverse weather training in Canada - where we went through a simulation depicting a scenario of a plane crash in -35 degrees. That kind of training helped us a lot,” one of the officer’s said.

While in Malatya, the area where the CPD was assisting local rescuers, it was around -15 degrees. Freezing temperatures.

The officers had their share of scares. One of the more worrying moments took place while Jonathan Callus – one of the officers interviewed - was at base camp. “There were approximately 12 tremors an hour, ranging from one to five on the Richter scale. On one occasion, we felt a very big tremor, and our colleagues were on location conducting a search,” Callus said. “Imagine searching through an area that was already perilous, and while you’re there, the ground beneath you starts shaking.

That was one of the most difficult moments for me. At the time I was at the base of operations,” he said. “We felt the ground shaking and your first thought is ‘where are my brothers,’” referring to the rest of the team. He contacted them and they were ok.

The heroic efforts of the Maltese team are to be praised. But we must also not forget about the many, many other CPD officers in the country. All of them are ready to battle fires and put their lives in danger to make sure we are all kept safe. We should applaud them all for the brave work they do.

In addition, the Maltese people also showed solidarity with Turkey and Syria in the aftermath of the quake. Several containers of items and goods were collected to send as aid to those affected. Internationally, several countries sent rescue teams to help out, also showing solidarity when faced with such natural disasters.