{"id":136533,"date":"2011-10-24T17:01:22","date_gmt":"2011-10-24T12:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/?p=136533"},"modified":"2011-10-24T17:09:29","modified_gmt":"2011-10-24T12:09:29","slug":"doctors-in-van-call-for-aid-as-minister-says-all-is-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/2011\/10\/24\/doctors-in-van-call-for-aid-as-minister-says-all-is-good.html","title":{"rendered":"Doctors in Van Call for Aid as Minister Says All is Good"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ministers of the Turkish Cabinet arrived in Van yesterday night to survey the aftermath of a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. Health Minister Recep Akda\u011f said all was good in eastern province, although local doctors disagreed and called for more help, reports the <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hurriyetdailynews.com\/n.php?n=hdn-exclusive-doctors-in-van-call-for-aid-as-minister-says-all-is-good-2011-10-24\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">H\u00fcrriyet Daily News<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Akda\u011f said hospitals and medical staff were adequate and there was no need to direct earthquake survivors to hospitals in other provinces.<\/p>\n<p>But one doctor in Van who spoke to the H\u00fcrriyet Daily News on condition of anonymity said hospitals in the city were severely damaged, especially at the Medical Park Hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Health personnel had trouble coping with head trauma cases due to a lack of supplies and equipment at the local hospitals, the doctor said, adding that patients must be directed to hospitals in other cities to enable proper care.<\/p>\n<p>The Turkish Red Crescent has erected tents for survivors at the Van exit off the road to the district of Erci\u015f, the area most affected by the earthquake.<\/p>\n<p>Ambulances from almost all provinces of Turkey were going back and forth between Erci\u015f and Van, carrying wounded from the former. Search-and-rescue teams from different cities were also arriving in Erci\u015f.<\/p>\n<p>Buildings in Erci\u015f were severely damaged, with some buildings falling over to one side and others collapsing totally.<\/p>\n<p>Dozens of ambulances filled Erci\u015f\u2019s streets. Roads remained open despite the heavy damage sustained by the town.<\/p>\n<p>A mobile phone operator has erected a mobile GSM station to provide coverage to the area, while the gendarmerie distributed food to survivors.<\/p>\n<p>Tremors continued to rattle the city today as better-off residents of Van spent the night in five-star hotels, one of them being the Rescate Hotel, where the Cabinet ministers were also staying.<\/p>\n<p>Quake victims slept on sofas and couches while the ministers were located in rooms upstairs.<\/p>\n<p>Half of the Paris Hotel in Van collapsed.<\/p>\n<p>Finance Minister Mehmet \u015eim\u015fek declared &#8220;force majeure&#8221; in Van today, delaying all tax collections in the province for a year.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ministers of the Turkish Cabinet arrived in Van yesterday night to survey the aftermath of a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. Health Minister Recep Akda\u011f said&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":136513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tstyn_error":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[10223,33644,33680,10222,13651,33643],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136533"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}