Within hours of the earthquake horror unfolding in Turkey, Portugal had started responding, politically and independently.
The government has sent a team of 53 members of the national civil protection, GNR and medical emergency, backed by six sniffer dogs, while from the Algarve two doughty firefighters plus their own dog Axe set out a day before intent on doing whatever they can to recover victims from the rubble.
As Albufeira fire chief Abel Zua explains, the Algarve fire corporation is recognised as a centre for international training in the Arcón method of rescue – meaning the detection of people who have been buried alive.
Just as firefighters André Cabrita and Cláudio Marujo were setting out, minister for interior administration José Luís Carneiro was talking to journalists in Coimbra, in the company of the president of ANAC (national authority for emergency and civil protection), Duarte da Costa.
