Turkish UAVs Successfully Completed Their Mission in Taiwan and Started Their Journey Back to Turkey

After the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Taiwan, the Turkish UAV team that came to Taiwan’s aid completed their work and set off on their journey back to Turkey. Serhat Gümüş, the leader and field director of the team, described the support they provided to Taiwanese rescue teams and how they mapped the challenging terrain using UAV technology during their 3-day mission in Taiwan before departing from Taiwan.

After the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit the city of Hualien in eastern Taiwan, the Turkish UAV team that came to Taiwan’s aid completed their work. The Turkish team completed their work in the Taroko Gorge, where the earthquake caused the most damage, and set off on their journey back to Turkey. Serhat Gümüş, the leader and field director of the team, described the support they provided to Taiwanese rescue teams and how they mapped the challenging terrain using UAV technology during their 3-day mission in Taiwan before departing from Taiwan. Gümüş stated that they learned about the earthquake in Taiwan from television news and through Kâmil Demirkapu, who organized this mission. “We started a relief operation here on behalf of Turkey. Kâmil Bey led the entire organization, gathering a team of experts from various fields, and we quickly organized and arrived in Taiwan,” said Gümüş.

Describing their work in Taiwan, Gümüş said, “Our work here was primarily to provide assistance in search and rescue operations during the first three days of the incident using drone technology and to share our knowledge and experience regarding the use of drone technologies in earthquake and disaster situations in the longer term. When we arrived at the earthquake site, we saw serious changes in the geography, such as stones falling heavily, rocks falling, and vehicles being damaged, especially walking paths in the park area. Our maps clearly show that the intensity was quite significant. We encountered images that seriously threatened the lives of people walking, especially in the park area. In contrast, we observed that the destruction was not widespread in urban areas, and their infrastructure actually coped well with it. Therefore, we directed our activities mainly towards search and rescue operations in the park area and the use of drone technologies in this area,” he said.

Gümüş also added that the Taiwanese people and the Taiwanese government have always rushed to help Turkey, and he concluded his statement as follows:
“Therefore, as the entire Turkish nation, we have a serious sympathy for them. In a sense, we came here to represent Turkey, to make a return for this support, as Akut did before. We plan to develop and continue this collaboration that has emerged here in the coming periods. We are currently conducting studies, and the details will be revealed over time.”Bey