Death toll in Turkey and Syria earthquake rises to 11,200
Turkey : After an earthquake in Turkey and Syria killed more than 11,200 people on Sunday, rescue workers raced against the clock on Tuesday to find survivors under the rubble. As international aid...
Turkey : After an earthquake in Turkey and Syria killed more than 11,200 people on Sunday, rescue workers raced against the clock on Tuesday to find survivors under the rubble.
As international aid began to arrive, people still huddled in the streets, burning debris for heat, had been left there by the tremors that had struck a border area already plagued by conflict.
A newborn baby was rescued in Syria from the rubble, still attached to her mother via umbilical cord; the mother had perished in Monday’s earthquake, but the baby survived.
Khalil al-Suwadi, a relative, told AFP, “We heard a voice while we were digging.” After cleaning up the mess, we discovered the baby with an uncut umbilical cord; my cousin then took her to the hospital.
The infant is an orphan, as her entire family perished when they visited the rebel-held town of Jindayris.
In the middle of the night on Monday, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck, destroying thousands of buildings and trapping an untold number of people.
Near the epicentre between the Turkish cities of Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras, whole rows of buildings collapsed, causing some of the heaviest devastation.
Because of the devastation, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared on Tuesday that 10 southeastern provinces would be under a state of emergency for three months.
“Kids are shivering”
Search teams and relief supplies have begun arriving by air from dozens of countries, including the United States, China, and the Gulf States.
However, residents of some of the worst-affected regions complained that they were abandoned.
“I have no way of retrieving my sibling from the rubble. My nephew keeps escaping from me. Check out what we have to offer. Please, God, there is no government official in the building “Turkish city of Kahramanmaras resident Ali Sagiroglu made this statement.
“There has been no update on the local situation for two days… Small children are suffering in the cold, “Moreover, he said.
Many roads, some already damaged by the earthquake, have become nearly impassable due to the winter storm, causing traffic jams that stretch for kilometres in some regions.
People who were evacuated from their homes and sought shelter in places like mosques, schools, and even bus shelters are at risk from the cold rain and snow, as are survivors who are buried under rubble.
“We are in a race against time,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, said.
As a result, “we have activated the WHO network of emergency medical teams to provide essential health care for the injured and most vulnerable,” he said.
Potentially affecting 23 million people
Officials and medical personnel in both Turkey and Syria reported 11,236 deaths as a result of Monday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake.
WHO officials have speculated that as many as 20,000 people have lost their lives as a result of the disaster.
The World Health Organization has issued a warning that up to 23 million people may be affected by the massive earthquake, and has urged countries to rush aid to the disaster zone.
Since President Bashar al-government Assad’s is still a pariah in the West, hindering international relief efforts, the Syrian Red Crescent has pleaded with Western countries to lift sanctions and provide aid.
On Monday, humanitarian programmes supported by the United States and the European Union responded to the destruction in Syria.
As a result of the destruction of two World Heritage sites in Syria and Turkey, UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency, has announced that it is prepared to offer assistance.
At least three other World Heritage sites may be damaged, according to UNESCO, joining the historic district of Aleppo and the Diyarbakir fortress in southeastern Turkey.
Homes, hospitals, and clinics in much of the earthquake-stricken region of northern Syria had already been destroyed by years of war and aerial bombardment by Syrian and Russian forces.
Jandairis is a town in northern Syria that was devastated by an earthquake, and its residents have been searching for survivors using only their bare hands and pickaxes.
Listen to their words.
“My daughter, and my son-in-law are all buried under there. In the absence of anyone else, “Bloodied and wrapped in a wool shawl against the cold, Ali Battal spoke up.
“The sound of their voices reaches my ears. They’re still alive, but nobody seems interested in saving them “The man in his 60s continued.
Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, and Tartus, where Russia leases a naval facility, have all sustained damage, according to the Syrian health ministry.
In Aleppo, Syria’s pre-war commercial hub, buildings frequently collapsed even before the tragedy.
Prisoners mutinied at a jail in northwest Syria housing mostly members of the Islamic State group after the earthquake, with at least 20 escaping, according to an AFP source inside the facility.
Turkey lies within a seismically active region.
Over 33,000 people in the country’s eastern Erzincan province perished in the last 7.8-magnitude earthquake, which occurred in 1939.
In 1999, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the Turkish region of Duzce, killing more than 17,000.
Istanbul is a megalopolis with 16 million people living in rickety homes, and experts have long warned that a large earthquake could devastate the city.
