Doctors In Van Call For Aid As Minister Says All Is Good

DOCTORS IN VAN CALL FOR AID AS MINISTER SAYS ALL IS GOOD

epress.am
10.24.2011

Ministers of the Turkish Cabinet arrived in Van yesterday night to
survey the aftermath of a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. Health Minister
Recep Akdag said all was good in eastern province, although local
doctors disagreed and called for more help, reports the Hurriyet
Daily News.

Akdag said hospitals and medical staff were adequate and there was
no need to direct earthquake survivors to hospitals in other provinces.

But one doctor in Van who spoke to the Hurriyet Daily News on
condition of anonymity said hospitals in the city were severely
damaged, especially at the Medical Park Hospital.

Health personnel had trouble coping with head trauma cases due to a
lack of supplies and equipment at the local hospitals, the doctor
said, adding that patients must be directed to hospitals in other
cities to enable proper care.

The Turkish Red Crescent has erected tents for survivors at the Van
exit off the road to the district of ErciÅ~_, the area most affected
by the earthquake.

Ambulances from almost all provinces of Turkey were going back and
forth between ErciÅ~_ and Van, carrying wounded from the former.

Search-and-rescue teams from different cities were also arriving
in ErciÅ~_.

Buildings in ErciÅ~_ were severely damaged, with some buildings
falling over to one side and others collapsing totally.

Dozens of ambulances filled ErciÅ~_’s streets. Roads remained open
despite the heavy damage sustained by the town.

A mobile phone operator has erected a mobile GSM station to provide
coverage to the area, while the gendarmerie distributed food to
survivors.

Tremors continued to rattle the city today as better-off residents
of Van spent the night in five-star hotels, one of them being the
Rescate Hotel, where the Cabinet ministers were also staying.

Quake victims slept on sofas and couches while the ministers were
located in rooms upstairs.

Half of the Paris Hotel in Van collapsed.

Finance Minister Mehmet Å~^imÅ~_ek declared “force majeure” in Van
today, delaying all tax collections in the province for a year.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS