The number of casualties in Syria and Turkey is close to 10,000
The latest death toll from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria has reached more than 9,500 people, with countless others left homeless in the freezing cold, as rescuers race against time to clear those trapped under the rubble.
The World Health Organization has estimated that 23 million people have been affected by the devastating earthquake.
Officials and medical personnel said 6,957 people have died in Turkey and 2,547 in Syria, bringing the total death toll to 9,504.
The World Health Organization (WHO) feared the toll could reach 20,000 with more than 20,000 reported wounded.
The first tremor, measuring 7.8 on Monday, was felt in Lebanon, Cyprus and northern Iraq.
This was followed by at least 185 aftershocks, one measuring 7.5 on Monday afternoon and another measuring 5.5 at dawn on Tuesday.
Aftershocks have caused further fear and suffering in a border area where conflict has been raging with people burnt in the streets to pieces of debris to keep warm as international aid begins to arrive.
But there are also some extraordinary stories of survival, including the birth of a baby girl under the rubble in Syria.
The bad weather is hampering rescue teams’ mission and adding to the suffering of cold survivors under tents and fire stoves set up in the affected areas. The devastated area of Kahramanmaraş in southeastern Turkey is hard to reach because of the snow.
In Syria, hundreds of Syrians, fearing further tremors, spent the night in streets and parks.
The White Helmets, a civil defense organization operating in areas of northern Syria outside Damascus’ control, said the death toll is likely to rise given that “hundreds of families are trapped under the rubble”. Since 2011, Syria has been gripped by a bloody conflict that has killed nearly half a million people, destroyed infrastructure and productive sectors, and displaced millions of people, both inside and outside the country.
A quarter of Syria’s earthquake victims were in the Damascus-controlled province of Aleppo, state media reported. “The city, one of the areas already devastated by the conflict, has been badly damaged, with around fifty buildings reported to have collapsed and historic sites damaged, including Aleppo Citadel.”
In Souran (north), Mahmoud Brimo kneels in front of a pile of rubble, all that remains of his house.” “We lost everything in Souran… 10 years [of war] didn’t affect us, but this minute and a half has affected us a lot. We have been completely destroyed.
Where’s my mom?
Aid workers and residents on both sides of the border are busy trying to rescue survivors. In the northern Syrian town of Jenderess, a baby girl miraculously pulled out from the rubble and remained connected through the cord to her mother, who was killed when the earthquake destroyed her family home.
“In Hatay, in southern Turkey on the border with Syria, a seven-year-old girl was rescued more than 20 hours after the earthquake.” And she said to the paramedic who was carrying her, “Where is my mother?”.
Former Ghanaian international player Christian Atsu, 31, who recently moved from the Saudi lead to Turkey’s Hatay Spore, was found alive amid the rubble in Hatay, Ghana’s ambassador to Turkey said.
First responders are arriving Tuesday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who declared a three-month state of emergency in the 10 provinces affected by the quake, said 45 countries had offered help.
The European Union said 19 member states, including France, Germany and Greece, had sent 1,185 medics and 79 dogs to Turkey to help with the search. “In Syria, the EU is reaching out to its humanitarian partners and funding relief operations.”
U.S. President Joe Biden has promised his Turkish counterpart “whatever help is necessary.” Two teams of 79 medics will arrive in Turkey early Wednesday.
The United States said Tuesday it is working with partners in Syria to provide aid to victims, although it does not recognize the Syrian government in Damascus. Steven Allen, who leads the field response for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said the agency is redirecting assistance that was originally provided to support Syrians affected by the war.
China on Tuesday announced $5.9 million in aid, specialist urban aid workers, medical teams and emergency equipment.
The Maghreb countries, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Jordan and Iran, in particular, have also announced the dispatch of relief teams and aid.
Saudi Arabia, which has not maintained relations with the Damascus regime since 2012, announced it would “open an air bridge and provide health, shelter, food and logistical assistance to mitigate the effects of the earthquake on the Syrian and Turkish peoples”.
It also heeded a plea from Damascus authorities and its ally Russia, who promised to send relief teams “in the coming hours,” as the military confirmed that more than 300 Russian military personnel were deployed to the quake-hit area to help with rescue operations.
The UN also took action but stressed that the aid should go “to all Syrians on all territory” in Syria, some of which is outside government control.
Who is not afraid?
The UN said Tuesday that aid deliveries from Turkey to opposition-held areas of Syria through the only authorized crossing point had been affected by the quake. “The cross-border operation itself has been affected,” UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesman Jens Laerke told a news conference in Geneva.
“In New York, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman said the Bab al-Hawa crossing itself had not been damaged.” “We continue to use the Bab al-Hawa post because the recharging platform is in fact intact,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
The Syrian Red Crescent, which operates in regime-held areas, called on the U.S. and European Union countries to lift sanctions on Damascus and seek help from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal al-Meqdad said his government was ready to “provide all the facilities needed for UN agencies to provide humanitarian assistance”.
Amid the chaos caused by the quake, about two dozen Islamic State (IS) fighters escaped from the Raju military prison, run by pro-Turkish opposition factions.
“In Turkey’s Şanlıurfa, authorities have turned sports halls, schools and mosques into shelters for survivors.” “However, fearing new tremors, many residents preferred to spend the night outdoors.”
“Who doesn’t fear?” said Mustafa Kweongo, 55, who sat in the family car with his wife and five children. Everyone is scared.”
It was the worst earthquake to hit the region since the 7.4 magnitude on August 17, 1999, which killed 17,000 people in Turkey, including 1,000 in Istanbul.
The last earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale occurred in 1939, killing 33,000 people in the eastern province of Erzincan.
