Selfless flood helpers
The disastrous floods in Germany caused unimaginable damage. Many people lost their lives and many others lost everything they owned. An essential part of the recovery remains the selfless dedication shown by the numerous volunteers tirelessly working to help people in the affected regions, some of them to this very day.
“For me, helping was the natural thing to do.” Professional driver and Trucker’s World member Marco Karg is one of the privately organised helpers who, just a few days after the devastating pictures from the flood areas reached us, set off to provide practical support for local people. Along with his colleague, who is also the junior manager of the construction company where Marco has worked for many years, he drove for around four hours with a truck and a 61/2 ton digger to get to Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler.
“It was dark when we arrived and we couldn’t even imagine the scale of the damage”, the 37-year old recalls. It was only the next morning that they realised how disastrous the situation actually was.
Before they arrived, they had received some names of people they could liaise with and reported to the caretaker of the local high school, where their assistance was urgently needed. The entire ground floor of the school had been destroyed by the raging water – “It was crazy to see it. Even the paved floor had been torn up”, Marco says. “Voluntary helpers got the rubble out by hand, then we loaded it and took it away. It really was a combined effort.”
Marco was disappointed with the lack of action by the state and other authorities. But the independently organised assistance has been a different story.
Marco and his colleague stayed in the crisis-hit area from Thursday to Sunday, sleeping on camp beds on the 2nd floor of the school, which had escaped the flooding. During this time, their own work at home was interrupted, but their boss fully supported their actions.
A lot of friendships were made
On his second visit, Marco met Franz Zerle from MAN, who has also returned to the area several times as a voluntary helper. Meeting the MAN employee was a valuable experience for Marco, who enjoyed being able to chat to a fellow professional. On his third trip, Zerle organised for Marco and his colleague to be accommodated in the slightly more comfortable surroundings of a local hotel. But Marco had never found any reason for complaints. “People had lost everything”. Experiencing the situation at first hand also changed him. He is now more grateful for the many things he has.
He and his team have helped to remove debris from private households. “Every time we drove home, I felt as though we were abandoning people in their misfortune”, says Marco, but quickly adds: “We are doing what we can.”
Sharing his experiences, especially with other helpers, is important for Marco and helps him process what he has witnessed. “You have to talk about it”, he says. And some great friendships have been made along the way.
“The team just hit it off and we managed to get things done together.”
He is already looking at when he can schedule his next trip alongside his work for the construction company. Important: There is still an incredible amount that needs to be done in the flood-hit regions and voluntary helpers continue to make a massive contribution to enabling local people to gradually start to move forwards. “Making the best of things to improve the situation” is Marco’s philosophy and it is very close to his heart.
This article is in no way designed to put the spotlight on individual actions or specific people. The aim of the story about Marco is to highlight the professional and personal efforts of all the helpers whose incredible helpfulness and solidarity have given people in affected areas a bit of hope, who came together when it mattered and remain there today.