Four expandable field hospitals, in the earthquake zone in 72 hours

At 04:17 local time on 6 February 2023, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Türkiye. By 06:00, the scale was catastrophic: eleven provinces affected, hospitals destroyed, roads cut, hundreds of thousands displaced. AFAD, the national disaster authority, activated every disaster-response contract it held. Our phone rang at 06:47.

The requirement was immediate: four fully-equipped field hospitals, functional on site within 72 hours, each capable of handling 200 casualties per day for at least 12 weeks. No external resupply for the first 14 days.

We held, and still hold, a standing inventory of pre-built, commissioned field hospitals on our Ankara yard precisely for this scenario. Each unit is an expandable Level-1 EMT facility: trauma bay, surgical theatre, 20-bed ward, pharmacy, laboratory, imaging and support spaces, all pre-plumbed, pre-wired, functionally tested and stocked with 14 days of consumables. They ship under a tarpaulin and are ready to run the moment they reach site.

Within 5 hours of the activation call, the first two hospitals were on flatbeds, escorted by gendarmerie, driving south. The next two followed within 20 hours. On-site deployment took between 4 and 11 hours depending on access: wings expanded, utility trailer connected, generators started, medical team embedded. The first patients were treated at site 1 less than 36 hours after the earthquake.

• Hour 0Earthquake. AFAD activates response contracts across multiple suppliers.
• Hour 3Call from AFAD. Four unit order confirmed on expedited standing-order terms.
• Hour 5Units 1–2 on flatbeds, convoy south, gendarmerie escort.
• Hour 24Units 3–4 dispatched; first two arrive at forward staging.
• Hour 36Unit 1 operational; first patients received.
• Hour 72All four units operational; deployment complete.
• Week 14Winter-weather upgrades (additional heat pumps, snow load checks) completed.
• Month 14Last unit decommissioned, returned to yard for re-commissioning.

Across 14 months of continuous operation, the four units treated an estimated 38,000 patients, performed 920 surgeries, delivered 220 babies and ran an active tuberculosis and maternal-health programme when the acute phase passed. All four units returned to our yard in 2024 in operational condition and have since been re-commissioned and redeployed — two to Ukraine, two held as stock.

Lead from call to on-site operation: 36 hours. Cost: a fraction of any alternative. The programme became the reference deployment for AFAD's subsequent pre-stocking contract, which we signed in late 2024.