Things that touched the heart during the historic mission

Journalist Phan Hai Tung Lam began the story about his memorable reporting trip with colleagues in Türkiye like this.

Halfway around the world to the great earthquake

One day in mid-February, receiving a call to be assigned to Türkiye, Phan Hai Tung Lam - Editor of Nhan Dan Television, resident in Da Nang, was surprised and worried. The very next day, he took a flight to Hanoi and just a few days later, when the procedures were hastily completed, he and 3 colleagues began to go to Türkiye - where a terrible earthquake of 7.8 on the Richter scale had just occurred, more than 50,000 people had passed away forever, tens of thousands of buildings collapsed, estimated damage was over 100 billion USD, the pain and loss was extreme...

The journey began with four passionate journalists, each with a different mindset and thoughts, but sharing the same ideal of directly bringing vivid information from different perspectives in Türkiye to the public.

Traveling 10,000km with 3 flights to Adana, about 200km from the working location in Hatay, the 12 pieces of luggage were what they brought with them, including clothes, medicine, necessities and indispensable machinery and equipment. Checking luggage after each flight, storing and moving luggage, and getting off the bus was really not a simple task.

Sencer - a Turkish driver living in Adana, was introduced by the Embassy. He arrived at the airport at dawn and drove through the night to bring the crew to the disaster area. "Sencer is like a fifth member of the crew," said Phan Hai Tung Lam.

The working group’s resting area was only a 10m2 tent, at that time, the international delegations had gradually withdrawn. At night, there was no electricity, no water, no toilet area. However, the Vietnamese flag still flying here still made the 4 journalists in the group maintain a spirit of enthusiastic work…

After 2.5 hours, the team arrived at Hatay Stadium, hundreds of temporary tents gradually appeared under the morning mist. This was the gathering place of the Vietnam People's Army rescue team and international support teams.

Phan Hai Tung Lam shared: “ We talked with Vietnamese soldiers who have been on international missions in recent days and are preparing to return home after 10 days of fighting millions of cubic meters of earth and rock in Hatay. Head of the delegation Pham Van Ti was moved when the day we arrived was also the day he and his comrades and teammates returned from a noble mission that they called “a mission from the heart” - finding the missing and injured is to find their relatives. The Vietnamese delegation did not forget to share the remaining food and necessities with the Turkish people who were lucky enough to survive the disaster.”

At the time Phan Hai Tung Lam and his colleagues were present in Hatay, the local authorities had begun to restrict international journalists from accessing the scene, despite having been granted press passes beforehand.

“ Previous Vietnamese delegations, including press and rescue teams, were provided vehicles by the host country to go to the areas to work. However, at present, this support has been stopped. In addition, we were surprised that very few people in the earthquake area could speak English - a huge challenge in the communication process to carry out the work ” - Editor Tung Lam said.

However, Sencer, with his strange kindness, traveled 200km to accompany the working group. The destination that day of Tung Lam and his colleagues was Aatakya, the capital of the ancient Hatay region. The car drove into the city center, the image of collapsed buildings appeared before their eyes. Here, the reporting work began quickly.

As the international delegations had withdrawn, all electricity and water were cut off. Filming, writing articles, editing videos, and processing photos quickly depleted the batteries, so the delegation had to contact and ask for charging equipment at the tents and camps of the UN peacekeeping forces as well as the military forces of neighboring countries.

Phan Hai Tung Lam plays the role of “all in one”, he takes advantage of every empty space to read the commentary, from an empty tent next door, the toilet or in the car…

“The most precious prize”

During the busy days preparing for the historic trip, Phan Hai Tung Lam had the idea that his works would be a rise, a belief in life that was budding and would be strongly revived after the great and painful losses.

As the most fluent English speaker in the group, he communicated with Sencer in English, who spoke to the locals and then translated for him.

During his 10 days in the host country, Phan Hai Tung Lam and his teammates traveled thousands of kilometers and met hundreds of people in many disaster areas. These were Syrian refugee families in the southernmost border of Türkiye or many local families living in temporary camps after the great earthquake. Some had just miraculously escaped death, while others had lost all their relatives…

Wherever they went, the delegation received sincere affection from their own people.

Tung Lam met and talked with them, the long-time shoe factory owner; the small children with innocent eyes, walking around him, shaking his hand and saying hello; an old man driving 10km from the gathering place to his ruined house, he found 5 chickens that were still alive - an extremely valuable food source. He immediately gave one to his neighbor, with the hope that they would overcome the difficulties in the most positive way.

“ The group’s regular schedule is to have breakfast, work all day, have dinner, produce at night, and then send information home. There were times when there were problems with the signal, and some members stayed up all night to broadcast the news in the prime time slot the next morning. Each person set a goal of having at least a few outstanding works published each day. That pressure was maintained until the last day when the group went to the airport to return home” - Phan Hai Tung Lam shared.

And so, the cold sometimes dropped to sub-zero temperatures, the cracks on the concrete running through the hut after the earthquakes became familiar, and the shaking of the ground was no longer scary.

Wherever they went, the working group received sincere affection from their own characters. Sencer - the guide in Hatay refused to accept payment for the last working day even though the car had traveled more than 1,000 km. And the only remaining precious lighter, he also gave to the working group of Nhan Dan newspaper to light the stove, cook and keep warm. " Up to now, that lighter is placed in the most solemn place in my house" - Editor Tung Lam said.

During the short time of the journey, the Embassy introduced to the working group about Vietnamese women in Turkey. In the past few days, they have traveled on all roads connecting the two continents, spreading and sharing the golden hearts of Vietnamese people to the people in the historical disaster.

On the day of boarding the plane back to Vietnam after a meaningful reporting trip, Phan Hoang Tung Lam and his colleagues said to each other: This business trip is the "most valuable award" ever in their journalism career, much more valuable than previous titles, artifacts, and certificates of merit.

“ If asked what I found after the trip? I found things that touched my heart. Inside the ruins there is still pain… but above the ruins is sharing, solidarity, and the belief in a revival… ” - Phan Hoang Tung Lam contemplated.

Hoang Anh

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nhung-dieu-cham-den-trai-tim-trong-chuyen-tac-nghiep-lich-su-post278709.html