On Sunday, February 5th, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck southeastern Türkiye. The earthquake was felt as far away as Israel and Cyprus, with the most severe impacts found in Türkiye and Syria. More than 41,000 people were killed and more than 90,000+ injured.

In the wake of this incident, Crisis Response Analyst, Franck Amato, conceptualized and implemented a process that involved utilizing the client’s proprietary emergency notification tools and leveraging public posts on social media to locate specific individuals who reported being trapped under rubble within the impacted area.

Through this process, Franck successfully identified 12 individuals in a precise manner, allowing for the identification of their exact locations of entrapment. The information was then escalated to client leadership, who collaborated with US FBI resources on the ground in Türkiye and Syria to facilitate rescue efforts in the area. While direct confirmation of the information leading to the rescue of these trapped individuals is currently unavailable, the team received positive feedback from multiple senior leaders at the client organization for their dedicated efforts in supporting this incident. 

The proactivity and ingenuity shown by Franck serves as a perfect example of the SIS WOW, and demonstrates the potential for members of our teams to positively impact the world around them through their roles at SIS. While every contribution matters, we honor our people who go above and beyond. It is important we acknowledge the members of our community who put SIS’s core values into practice.