In the early morning of February 6th, 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Türkiye and parts of Northern Syria. The earthquake was followed by multiple high-magnitude aftershocks (5.6 - 7.5). The earthquake caused 50,339 deaths and 311,000 collapsed or severely damaged houses. In the wake of this disaster, the Turkish government appealed for international assistance to expedite search and rescue operations and medical assistance.

This study aims to explore the experiences and insights of the first responders during their deployment to Türkiye in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake.

A semi-structured interviews were performed with 18 first responders from the Jordan International Search and Rescue team (JSAR) who deployed to Türkiye and participated in the search and rescue operations. The JSAR team is certified as a heavy international team and works under the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (ISARAG).

The results revealed a success in coordinating the international response of over 90 teams. However, numerous obstacles and difficulties were encountered due possibly to the sheer scale of the disaster. These obstacles can be categorized into resource allocation and time management. Resources allocation issues include the selection of the operation site; suboptimal use of teams’ capabilities and capacities; and suboptimal coordination and collaboration with local authorities and volunteers. Time management issues include the deployment decision time, transportation to the operation site, and the scheduled roster of deployed personnel.

These findings stress the urgent need to reevaluate and reform current approaches to ensure more efficient and impactful future disaster relief efforts.

This study aims to assess the perception and attitude of emergency medical services (EMS) providers toward working during disease outbreaks, and the factors that may influence their decisions to ultimately work or not.

This is a cross-sectional study assessing the attitude of EMS providers to work during disease outbreaks. Descriptive statistics and regression analyses were performed to assess attitudes toward reporting for duty and factors that influence providers’ decisions.

Of the 500 surveys distributed, 466 (93.2%) were complete and included for analysis. The majority of participants (70.2%) are male with a mean age of 27 (SD 4.3) years. The study found that the majority (71.1%) of participants are willing to come to work during disease outbreaks. The study found 7 predictors of reporting for duty. Confidence that employer will provide adequate protective gear was the most significant predictor (odds ratio [OR], 3.95; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.31-5.42). Concern for family safety was the most important barrier against coming to work (OR, 0.40; 95% CI = 0.21-0.73).

Providing adequate supplies of protective gear along with knowledge and training for disease outbreak are the main factors that enhance providers to fulfill their work expectations.