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A Venezuelan canine search and rescue unit supported by Türkiye is helping emergency teams in La Guaira after the deadly June 24 earthquakes, using experience its members gained during the 2023 disaster response in southern Türkiye.
The K9 Training and Disaster Response Unit, a volunteer organization that works with trained search dogs, has been deployed to collapsed buildings in the coastal city, one of the areas worst affected by the earthquakes.
The team has been working alongside other emergency response agencies as Venezuela deals with the aftermath of twin 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes. According to Venezuelan authorities, 2,295 people were killed.
Unit coordinator Marcos Sequera said the group brought 15 search and rescue dogs to the area and that the animals had carried out what he described as an extraordinary job in the field.
Sequera said the unit's capacity was strengthened after its deployment to Türkiye following the Feb. 6, 2023 earthquakes, when the team spent around 20 days in Adiyaman, one of the provinces hit by the disaster.
He said the mission in Türkiye helped the organization build up its equipment and response ability through ties between Venezuela and Türkiye.
The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, known as TIKA, later provided uniforms, helmets and two vehicles to transport rescuers and dogs.
The connection with Türkiye remains visible as the team moves between damaged areas in La Guaira. Its uniforms carry the TIKA logo, while its vehicles display the message, "From the heart of the Turkish people."
Sequera said the conditions in Venezuela are very different from those the team faced in Türkiye. While rescuers are now working in intense heat, the Türkiye mission was marked by freezing weather that created major difficulties for both team members and dogs.
Although the destruction in Türkiye was greater because of the scale of the earthquakes, he said the human suffering felt familiar. Working in Venezuela, he said, has brought back memories of the Turkish people the team met and helped during that period.
Sequera said the unit wanted to strengthen cooperation with Türkiye in search and rescue and disaster response, while expressing gratitude to the Turkish people and TIKA for their support.
"It is heartwarming to see people coming from the other side of the world to help us," he said. "It reinforces the idea that we are all brothers and sisters despite differences in language, culture and traditions."
Marielvis Sanchez, another member of the unit, said the experience gained in Türkiye had become valuable in Venezuela because the Adiyaman mission was the team's first major operation involving collapsed buildings and people trapped under rubble.
Before that deployment, she said the group had mainly worked in mountainous and open areas. The lessons learned in Türkiye are now helping the team carry out rescue work in Venezuela.
Sanchez also said the team remembered the kindness of the Turkish people. "When a Turk invites you for coffee, it is not simply an invitation to drink coffee. It is an invitation to friendship and to build a bond."
She added that the team formed lasting friendships in Türkiye and urged people to learn basic disaster preparedness skills that could help save lives during emergencies.
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