Help us walk from the UK to Turkiye!

On the 26^th March 2023, members of West Midlands Fire Services UK International Search And Rescue Team (UK ISAR), with the help of other volunteers, will be walking 3 mile laps around Kinver Edge between 7am and 7pm in an attempt to cover the 1350 miles from the UK to Turkiye. We will need as many people as possible to join in and help us complete the 450 laps required!

All donations will go directly to the Disaster Emergency Committees, Turkiye-Syria Earthquake Appeal (Reg Charity no 1062638)

In the early hours of 6^th February 2023, the region of Turkiye and Syria were hit by 2 devastating earthquakes killing more than 50,000 people and causing 54,000 buildings to collapse.

The UK International Search And Rescue team were immediately mobilised and within 48 hours, a team of 77 professional rescue specialists were conducting search and rescue operations in the city of Hatay, which was one of the worst affected areas with over 20,000 people losing their lives there.

We were the first search and rescue team into the city and we witnessed first hand the level of destruction and desperation on what was left of the streets of Hatay. The survivors had lost everything. Their family members, their homes and all their belongings and were searching through the remains of buildings for any glimmer of hope. It is estimated that now 18 million people in the affected area, many of them in urgent need of shelter, food and medical support.

The UK ISAR team is the UK governments official response to large scale disasters and it is made up of search and rescue specialist from Fire and Rescue services all across England, Scotland and Wales, a dedicated team of doctors and medics, search dogs and handlers, vets and even specially trained structural engineers.

The West Midlands Fire Service provides a specialist command
support team for UK ISAR. This involved setting up and running a command tent in the affected country, staffing a UK based incident coordination centre and providing command support embeds to each search and rescue team providing communications, navigation and command support.

Kinver Edge is a natural beauty spot and is looked after by the National Trust. It has a long history with West Midlands Fire Services UK ISAR team. Over the last 20 years it has hosted a number of training events and exercises including large scale national simulated deployments. It is also where every member of the West Midlands team has completed and passed a gruelling 4 day practical selection course prior to joining.

Please help us raise money for this important appeal that is
very close to our hearts.

Thank you