One day nurse Jessica Hickingbotham was in Melbourne reading about Türkiye’s massive earthquake; two days later she was strapped into a military helicopter being dropped at ground zero in Türkiye.
Ms Hickingbotham, who has worked at GV Health, and who trained as an intensive care nurse, had volunteered with a US-based Christian aid organisation that specialises in working in disaster zones.
She had been on the volunteer list of Samaritan’s Purse since late last year, but had only one day to pack after she agreed to join the international effort.
When Ms Hickingbotham arrived with Samaritan’s Purse volunteers from other countries, they had to first put up the tents that comprised the field hospital and their own accommodation, in the car park of a quake-damaged hospital, before they could begin treating hundreds of injured people.
Southern and central Türkiye was reeling from a major earthquake on February 6, which ultimately caused more than 50,000 deaths.
There were many smaller aftershocks, which Ms Hickingbotham thought were mild, but she was not prepared for a 6.4 magnitude quake that struck halfway through her trip and just after she had finished her shift.
“This was terrifying. The ground that I had always known to be solid and sturdy was violently rocking back and forth,” Ms Hickingbotham said.
“There was no safe ground to go to. When it had passed we were certainly left feeling uneasy, as we no longer felt secure with the ground beneath our feet.
“We couldn’t dwell in fear though, many ambulance sirens could be heard and we got reports that all the hospitals in the area had become structurally unsound and were being evacuated.
“We had to quickly get back to work cleaning up the mess from the earthquake and preparing to take in all the injured.
“For the month that I was in Türkiye I stayed in the car park that the field hospital was located on.
“We lived in a tent on site and worked 12- to 13-hour days. I did have two trips that went into the towns where a lot of the damage from the earthquake had occurred.
“It is pretty hard to comprehend the amount of destruction that was there; some buildings were complete pancakes, some were leaning on angles that did not appear safe to approach, others had complete walls missing so that you could stare in.
“It is hard to believe how anyone could survive this and how they are able to recover the bodies.”
The 52-bed field hospital treated more than 8000 patients between February 13 and March 31, including 260 surgeries; this included scores of injured emergency workers, who risked their lives in the days following the earthquake.
Samaritan’s Purse flies in the field hospital and all of its equipment so it can be as self-reliant as possible. This includes things such as generators, heating, water purifying equipment, tents, beds, monitoring equipment, ventilators, oxygen supply, all pharmacy and hospital stock.
Although Samaritan’s Purse is a Christian organisation, it works in a mainly Muslim region.
“In the area that we were in, the people that mainly presented were Turkish or Syrian refugees,” Ms Hickingbotham said.
Ms Hickingbotham has been a nurse for about 11 years, but has been a practising Christian for most of her life, and she sees Samaritan’s Purse as a practical part of her faith.
“The name Samaritan’s Purse comes from the good Samaritan’s story in The Bible. Through this story Jesus calls us to love, care and help our neighbour,” Ms Hickingbotham said.
“Our neighbour does not need to be of the same nationality or religious background; they are those who are in need. This work certainly teaches me to trust God and to then practically care and love those in these disaster zones because God loves them and cares for them.”
With more than a decade working in hospitals, much of it in emergency departments, Ms Hickingbotham did not feel overwhelmed by the work, but she was deeply touched by the people she met.
“What was hard was that every single person that came into the hospital had a heart-breaking story to tell. Of the pain of losing many love ones, the suffering of their injuries, the loss of all their belongings, the desperation of trying to survive and the mental torment of what they had witnessed and experienced,” she said.
“It was hard to see all the suffering. There is so much need.
“I felt like I could only do a little to help.
“What helped me to cope was that it was not a state of complete hopelessness. It was amazing to see how the hospital became a place for the Turkish and Syrian refugees to rest, to have peace, to be encouraged, to be shown love and care and to start to heal mentally and physically.
“Many patients and families shared how they had felt such hopelessness until they came to the hospital where they received love and care.
“When they asked why we did this and how could such an operation exist I would say it’s because there are people all over the world including country Australia where people donate and pray to show their love for you.”
• Jess is the daughter of Stephen and Cathy Hickingbotham from Kyabram.
For more information, visit samaritanspurse.org.au