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ADANA, TURKIYE - FEBRUARY 15: “We may not be able to take the pigeon with us…but we understand the message you have given to us and we will pass it on to our people,” the leader of a Chinese rescue team told an old man in southern Türkiye’s earthquake-hit province of Hatay. Wang Geng, the Chinese rescuer, was busy organizing his flight home at Adana Airport, which has become an epicenter for international arrivals and departures for more than 9,300 rescue personnel from around the world after Türkiye was hit by magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes on Feb. 6. “The pigeon represents peace and good wishes,” Wang told Anadolu after returning from the town of Kirikhan in Hatay where he was gifted the pigeon by the old man. The first part of the name of the town, “Kirik,” means “broken,” while the second part, “han,” means a “house” or “inn” which provides accommodation, food and drink, especially for travelers, which describes the town’s current situation as international rescuers are battling the Himalayan challenge of two earthquakes amid bone-chilling cold. The gesture from the Turkish native came as the six-member Dawn Emergency Rescue team from China’s southeastern port city of Xiamen, which sits on the northern banks of the Taiwan Strait, conducted search, rescue and relief operations in the province. They arrived in Türkiye on Feb. 9, soon after they heard the news of the “worst earthquake of the 21st century” to have hit the country. “We immediately organized our frontline team of six members to come to the aid of the Turkish people,” Wang told Anadolu via an interpreter Wednesday as he and his team were readying to depart for China from Adana via the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul. To make communication easier and faster, hundreds of Turkish translators are working as volunteer interpreters with international teams. (Footage by Tayyib Hoşbaş/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)