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A firefighter from Bedwas who has been deployed to Turkey as part of the response to last week’s earthquake has said nothing could have prepared her for the devastation she has seen.

Emma Atcherley, 42, is one of five Welsh firefighters sent to Turkey to help with rescue efforts – and one of 77 search and rescue specialists from across the UK to be deployed by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office as part of the UK Government’s response to the disaster.

At the time of publication, around 37,000 people have been confirmed dead across Turkey and neighbouring Syria.

The response has already seen the Welsh Government provide £300,000 of support, while the UK Government has worked with the Turkish authorities to deploy the UK Emergency Medical Team (UK-EMT) to eastern Turkey to provide life-saving care.

Emma, who serves with South Wales Fire and Rescue Service as a crew manager at Cardiff Central Station, has been a firefighter for 19 years – but is on her first deployment with the UK International Search and Rescue (UK-ISAR) team.

She said: “Turkey is my first deployment with UK-ISAR and no amount of training could ever prepare you for how tough life is on the ground.

“The training prepares you for how to set up base and how things work operationally, but there are very few places you can train that could give you a true sense of what it’s like.

“Anything we work on that is quite true to real life are made safe before we train on them, whereas here we were going into buildings that were not safe and making tunnels not really knowing when the next aftershock might happen. That level of anxiety you just can’t prepare for.

“Nor the level of intensity because you constantly feel like you are on a stopwatch and up against the clock. You’ve got such a limited window to make a real difference and pull people out alive.

“The scale of the devastation shocked even colleagues who have been on numerous deployments.”

On Saturday February 11, Emma was part of the UK-ISAR team that pulled out two survivors who had been trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building for 120 hours.

She was also involved in pulling out a 90-year-old woman on the UK team’s first day in Turkey and another man the following day.

Emma said: “It is so good when you pull someone out. When you know that there is potentially life to save, you get your hopes up and you are desperate to help and get them out.

“When you realise that it is a genuine possibility, it’s a really nice feeling. 

She described the relief of families as loved ones are pulled out as “heart-warming” and spoke of the efforts that go into individual rescue efforts.

“The rescue of the man and lady trapped in the stairwell took us 17 to 19 hours from start to finish”, Emma said, “from hearing their voices to actually having them both out and in an ambulance”.

She continued: “I wasn’t there to see them get out because obviously, we had to rotate the team.

“I was part of the first shift from two o’clock until about 1.30am – we were there almost 12 hours before handing over to the other team.

“It was really difficult for the team to walk away knowing that you are probably not going to see those people come out, having started on the rescue.

“But that’s where the strength of the team leaders comes in, to look after our welfare when we’re not really looking after it ourselves.”

Emma, who is part of the team working in the town of Antakya, Hatay Province, described the challenge as a “rollercoaster” – and spoke of the “worst moments” seeing the deceased pulled out of the rubble and their grieving families.

“Outside most collapsed buildings, there’s relatives sat just waiting which is quite hard to see that level of suffering,” she admitted.

“They want us to bring their loved ones out alive or dead. We are a live rescue team so we have had to explain we can’t do anything if we can’t find signs of life, which is really hard.

“Unfortunately, there are more of the low moments than the highs.”

She added: “They are moving to a recovery phase but until all the rubble’s gone you never give up hope that you might find somebody.

Waiting for Emma back home are husband Leon on daughters Florence, ten, and eight-year-old Martha.

Emma said: “I know the kids are very proud of me, but they don’t like me leaving and they were not happy that I was going. Any time I’ve spoken to them it’s very much been ‘When are you coming home?’.

“I’m sure there will be lots of screaming and tears if I manage to pick them up from school when I get back.”