Rescues provide glimmer of hope among quake ruins as toll tops 21,000


The rescue of several survivors from the rubble of buildings in Turkey lifted the spirits of weary search crews on Friday, four days after a major earthquake struck the country and neighbouring Syria, killing at least 21,000 people

Cold, hunger and despair gripped hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by the tremors, the deadliest in the region for decades

Several people were rescued from the rubble of buildings during the night, including a 10-year-old boy saved with his mother after 90 hours in the Samandag district of Hatay province

Also in Hatay, a seven-year-old girl named Asya Donmez was rescued after 95 hours and taken to hospital, the state-owned Anadolu news agency reported

But hopes were fading that many more would be found alive in the ruins of thousands of collapsed buildings in towns and cities across the region

The death toll from the 7

8 magnitude earthquake and several powerful aftershocks across both countries has surpassed the more than 17,000 killed in 1999 when a similarly powerful earthquake hit northwest Turkey

It now ranks as seventh most deadly natural disaster this century, ahead of Japan's 2011 tremor and tsunami and approaching the 31,000 killed by a quake in neighbouring Iran in 2003

A Turkish official said the disaster posed "very serious difficulties" for the holding of an election scheduled for May 14 in which President Tayyip Erdogan has been expected to face his toughest challenge in two decades in power

With anger simmering over delays in the delivery of aid and getting the rescue effort underway, the disaster is likely to play into the vote if it goes ahead

The first U

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convoy carrying aid to stricken Syrians crossed over the border from Turkey

{{image_slider}} In Syria's Idlib province, Munira Mohammad, a mother of four who fled Aleppo after the quake, said: "It is all children here, and we need heating and supplies

Last night we couldn't sleep because it was so cold

It is very bad

" Hundreds of thousands of people in both countries have been left homeless in the middle of winter

Many people have set up crude shelters in supermarket car parks, mosques, roadsides or amid the ruins

Survivors are often desperate for food, water and heat

Some 40% of buildings in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, the epicentre of Monday's main quake, are damaged, according to a report by Turkey's Bogazici University

Roadside fires At a petrol station near the Turkish town of Kemalpasa, people picked through cardboard boxes of donated clothes

In the port city of Iskenderun, Reuters journalists saw people huddled round fires on roadsides and in wrecked garages and warehouses

Authorities say some 6,500 buildings in Turkey collapsed and countless more were damaged

Newly available Maxar satellite imagery shows several hundred meters long surface rupture with horizontal displacements up to 4m near Nurdağı, Gaziantep province, Turkey

pic

twitter

com/3JVZTTHrk1 — Nahel Belgherze (@WxNB_) February 9, 2023 The death toll in Turkey rose to 17,674 by Thursday night, Vice President Fuat Oktay said

In Syria, already devastated by nearly 12 years of civil war, more than 3,300 people have died, according to the government and a rescue service in the rebel-held northwest

In the devastated Syrian town of Jandaris, Ibrahim Khalil Menkaween walked in the rubble-strewn streets clutching a white body bag

He said he had lost seven members of his family, including his wife and two brothers

"I'm holding this bag for when they bring out my brother, and my brother's young son, and both of their wives," he said

"The situation is very bad

And there is no aid

" Turkish officials say some 13

5 million people were affected in an area spanning roughly 450 km (280 miles) from Adana in the west to Diyarbakir in the east

In Syria, people were killed as far south as Hama, 250 km from the epicentre

Rescue crews working in the dark and in freezing temperatures looked for survivors at a collapsed building in the city of Adiyaman, Turkish broadcasters showed

Teams called for silence, asking all vehicles and generators to stop and reporters to keep quiet as they listened for any sound of life from the mangled concrete

Many in Turkey have complained of a lack of equipment, expertise and support to rescue those trapped - sometimes even as they could hear cries for help

Greece sent thousands of tents, beds and blankets and Israeli satellite intelligence was helping map the disaster zones in Turkey with technology predominantly used for special operations, the Israeli military said

The World Bank is providing Turkey with $1

78 billion in relief and recovery financing, $780 million of which will become available immediately

The U

S

Agency for International Development will provide $85 million in urgent humanitarian assistance to Turkey and Syria

Syria overwhelmed In Syria, relief efforts are complicated by a conflict that has partitioned the country and wrecked its infrastructure

The U

N

aid convoy entered Syria at the Bab Al Hawa crossing - a lifeline for accessing opposition-controlled areas where some 4 million people, many displaced by the war, were already relying on humanitarian aid

U

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Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pushed for more humanitarian access to Syria, saying he would be "very happy" if the United Nations could use more than one border crossing to deliver help

The Syrian government views the delivery of aid to rebel-held areas from Turkey as a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity

President Bashar al-Assad has chaired emergency meetings on the earthquake but has not addressed the country in a speech or news conference



Date:11-Feb-2023 Reference:View Original Link