Firefighters tell of experiences back from Moroccan quake zone

Four Lincolnshire firefighters, along with search dog Colin, were mobilised as part of a 62-strong UK contingent of the International Search and Rescue (ISAR) team after the 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck the area of Marrakech and village communities in the Atlas Mountains on September 8.

After a 24-hour warning to say goodbye to their families, the team of Ben Clarke (based at Sleaford), Darren Burchnall (Spalding), Karl Keuneke (Lincoln) and Neil Woodmansey (Sleaford) and his search dog Colin, were mobilised and flew out on board a RAF aircraft from Brize Norton to the disaster zone.

They helped set up a base of operations and then headed out with local military and rescue teams from Spain to reach isolated communities in the Atlas Mountains to search for survivors and offer first aid.

Ben said the journeys out to the mountains would take five to seven hours and so they would sometimes camp out there if the work took more than a day.

Karl said that they trained to travel light, carrying kit bags with a change of clothes, mosquito net and a sleeping bag, just in case.

“We would be up to 1,800m above sea level and getting there was quite dangerous due to after shocks and land slides,” Ben said.

He was deeply touched by the welcome the team received: “People would be coming up and kissing my hand and shoulder. It was very heart-warming, despite the language barrier, it is something I have never experienced before in my life.

“They would not swarm over us. It was very respectful and a village elder would come over to liaise with us.”

Sadly, due to the style of construction, most collapsed buildings did not leave pockets for survivors and people had lost everything. So Ben said they were offering support, beds, shelters and sweets from their ration packs for the children, as well as retrieving bodies.

“One of our team was able to save a donkey, which meant they had transport to fetch water, which made a massive impact for those locals,” he said.

“Normally in my job I am dealing with a vehicle crash or a house fire, but this was a higher magnitude. It was an entire village, a city and a country feeling the effects and something I never thought I would experience and people were looking to us for support. That is something that will stay with me for a long time.”

He said some villages were just piles of rubble and part of a mountain had slid down onto one. They did get aftershocks but they had spotters who would order everyone off the rubble piles immediately. The team all volunteer to be part of ISAR and Ben said: “I saw it as just going to do my job as best I can. I want to go and help people, without thinking about the pressure at the time, it is quite surreal.”

Neil and Colin had previously both been to search for survivors after the earthquake in Turkey.

He said the villages they went out to had had no support at that stage. “It was a tough journey going up the mountains in the transport with boulders and landslides. But then, when we got there, our primary role was search and rescue and Colin searched collapsed buildings. The first village we went to had something like a hundred people missing.

“Unfortunately we didn’t find anyone alive up there under collapses and landslides, but then our role became supporting with first aid, lots of people with nasty breakages, cuts, abrasions. We had doctors in the team and we are all basic first aiders, so we helped where we could.

“We went into one village and they asked if we could assist with an elderly lady who had a broken leg, so we went into the tent and splinted it and did what we could And then when we came out, there was quite a queue of wounded people waiting for us and as word got out we stayed there for several hours.”

Neil said that Colin just loves his job: “When he is there searching the villages, it is one big playground for him. He is a cracking searcher – a bit mad and a bit of a character, but when it comes to search and rescue he is good. It is my fifth earthquake and Colin’s second, so between us we have a bit of experience. The team do keep reminding me I’m not a spring chicken anymore but there is still life in the old dog yet. Colin has a bit more energy than me but together we make a good team.”