Aussie aid workers escape Turkey earthquake disaster with Tim Tams

Aussie aid workers have revealed how they’re keeping their spirits alive amid the “indescribable fear” of the disasters unfolding around them.

Every night since the devastating earthquake hit the Turkish city of Gaziantep, Australian UNICEF colleagues Melinda Young and Peta Barns have taken refuge in a little Fiat 500 for a little sanity-saving ritual.

The seasoned aid workers have described conditions that are as bad as any they have witnessed throughout their careers, and an “indescribable level of fear” – but have rationed themselves a Tim Tam each to keep their spirits up amid the unfolding disasters in the near-freezing border city.

“You need these moments of silliness to keep some sanity,” Ms Barns said.

When Ms Barns, from Melbourne, had an opportunity to sneak back into her building after the quake the first things she grabbed apart from clothes were the Tim Tams and packets of Chicken Crimpys which together with Ms Young’s homemade Anzac biscuits have somehow helped them to keep going.

Miners from Zonguldak walk with a man carrying his child's body they extracted from rubble, as they carry out search operations in Antakya. Picture: AFP

Neither of the women are new to disaster zones. Both have worked for the United Nations in some of the world’s worst hot spots including Iraq, Gaza, Somalia and South Sudan.

They have been bombed and shot at. But they say that was nothing compared to living through the earthquake and the 350 aftershocks ever since.

Both said they had lived through challenging times “but nothing like this”.

Ms Young, who grew up in Sydney’s Middle Cove, realises now she was in deep shock after the quake and everyone around her had gone through an “indescribable level of fear.”

“The ground was like jelly,” she said.

Ms Young said the ground is usually “that solid thing you can rely on” – but they could “no longer even rely on what’s under your feet”.

When the quake hit Ms Young was in such a hurry to get out she pulled on a pair of pants – backwards as it turns out – a shirt, grabbed her wallet and passport and ran to open the door which had its security chain still on.

Fireman Erhan Sarac and other rescue team members celebrate each other just after a successful evacuation. Picture: Getty Images

She was usually more concerned about personal security and preventing people getting into her apartment than her having to get out during an earthquake.

Ms Young yanked it so hard it came right out of the door frame.

“I thought I must be really strong,” she said.

Peta Barns and Melinda Young who escaped the earthquake in Turkey. Picture: Supplied

Outside in the corridors children were screaming and people had collapsed as they struggled to get to the exits and the streets, but they were all helping each other in extraordinary demonstrations of humanity.

Unable to return to their apartment blocks which are just 10 minutes from their work, the pair are now living in the UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) office along with 120 other people, four cats and a budgie. They are sleeping under their desks.

The aid workers are sleeping in the UNICEF office. Picture: Supplied

Ms Barns said “there is a sense of camaraderie”, as well as a growing awareness that they all smell – not having had showers since the quake hit.

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Ms Young has been handing out Anzac biscuits to give everyone a sugar hit while Ms Barnes was giving a history lesson about where the biscuits came from, and the bond between Turkey and Australia.

“I think they were wondering why this Australian woman was babbling about biscuits,” Ms Barns said.

A man carries the body of child who was killed with his parents in a deadly earthquake, during a funeral in the village of Gozebasi in Adiyaman province, Turkey. Picture: REUTERS

The women are likely to spend at least the next few weeks living in the office until their apartment blocks are certified safe. That’s a long way off given the situation is still a search and rescue mission.

And now they are focusing on how best to help the thousands of already traumatised children in Northern Syria to recover from the added distress and anguish from the earthquake.

Luckily, said Ms Young, they had just shipped six months of supplies to families who were already doing it tough before the earthquake hit.

Top priority is distributing hygiene kits with soap, water, water purification tablets, toothpaste and washing powder in a bid to help stop the diseases that inevitably start when clean water supplies are damaged. UNICEF distributed 12,000 such kits in a single day.

“Only $40 buys thousands and thousands of kits which can save lives,” Ms Barns said. “I know it doesn’t sound much but water contamination is so dangerous. It is more critical now than ever. These are standard UNICEF kits and they so urgently needed.”

Members of the Swiss rescue team handing over a four-month-old girl called Abir. Picture: AFP

The UNICEF team is also trucking in education tents and recreational kits for the children, many in areas where they have been suffering trauma for years, to give them the ability to play and try and get them back into a routine.

Mr Young said suffering such a shock and trauma can have their entire life knocked off course and it will take a long time for them to recover.

They have welcomed the immediate pledge of aid from Australia, but said they need as much help as possible.

“This may fade from the headlines in coming weeks, but we will still be here and need supplies,” Ms Young said.

UNICEF Australia this week launched an appeal to help the hundreds of thousands of children impacted by the devastating earthquake on the Syrian-Turkish border. To donate: www.unicef.org.au/earthquake