Turkey, Syria earthquake death toll tops 6,300 as rescuers face tough conditions
The death toll from a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey and Syria climbed to more than 6,300 people early Tuesday, as more than a dozen more quakes rattled the region and search groups dug through rubble with their bare hands looking for survivors.
Desperate cries from those trapped in the rubble could be heard by first responders, who are facing rain, snow, and ongoing seismic activity, including one 7.5-magnitude jolt that was nearly as strong as the original quake.
The US Geological Study said there have been at least 14 large tremors and 285 aftershocks since Sunday evening when the region was struck by a monster 7.8 magnitude tremor — the deadliest in Turkey since 1999.
Recovery efforts have been complicated by seismic activity, which has made searching through unstable buildings dangerous.
As search crews in Turkey and Syria raced against the clock to save people trapped beneath collapsed apartment buildings, hospitals, and schools, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the death toll could reach 20,000.
“It’s now a race against time,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva. “Every minute, every hour that passes, the chances of finding survivors alive diminishes.”
Meanwhile, UNICEF officials said thousands of children may be among the fatalities.
In Turkey, the death toll had climbed to 4,544 people by Tuesday afternoon, CNN reported. In Syria, the death toll stood at more than 1,782, according to the government and a rescue service in the rebel-held northwest.
Turkish authorities say some 13.5 million people were affected in an area spanning roughly 280 miles from Adana in the west to Diyarbakir in the east, and 190 miles from Malatya in the north to Hatay in the south. Syrian authorities have reported deaths as far south as Hama, some 60 miles from the epicenter.
Relatives of missing people waited anxiously as workers lifted heavy slabs of concrete to reach buried bodies.
One woman sobbed after her apartment building was leveled in the Turkish city of Adana.
Here’s the latest coverage on the Turkey-Syria earthquake:
“My grandson is 1 1/2 years old. Please help them, please. … They were on the 12th floor,” Imran Bahur cried out Monday.
Huseyin Yayman, a Turkish legislator, said several of his loved ones were trapped under their collapsed homes.
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“There are so many other people who are also trapped,” the Hatay province resident told HaberTurk television by phone.
“There are so many buildings that have been damaged. People are on the streets. It’s raining, it’s winter.”
In the Turkish city of Antakya near the Syrian border, a woman’s voice was heard calling for help under a pile of rubble, as volunteers searched through the wreckage with their bare hands.
Weeping in the rain, a resident who gave his name as Deniz wrung his hands in despair.
“They’re making noises but nobody is coming,” he said. “We’re devastated, we’re devastated. My God… They’re calling out. They’re saying, ‘Save us’ but we can’t save them. How are we going to save them? There has been nobody since the morning.”
More than 7,800 people have been rescued across 10 Turkish provinces, an official said.
Tens of thousands of people in those 10 provinces took shelter in shopping centers, stadiums, mosques and other community centers. About 5,600 buildings were destroyed, officials said.
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said 5,775 buildings had been destroyed in the quake, and that 20,426 people had been injured.
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Hospitals were also damaged and one in the city of Iskenderun was gone.
The death toll in Syrian government-held areas rose to 812, the state news agency SANA reported. In the rebel-held northwest, the toll was more than 790, according to the Syrian civil defense, a rescue service known as the White Helmets and famous for digging people from the rubble of government air strikes.
“There are lot of efforts by our teams, but they are unable to respond to the catastrophe and the large number of collapsed buildings,” group head Raed al-Saleh said.
Time was running out to save hundreds of families trapped under the rubble of buildings and urgent help was needed from international groups, he said.
A UN humanitarian official in Syria said fuel shortages and the harsh weather were creating obstacles.
In addition to the devastating death toll, over 17,000 people suffered injuries.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a seven-day national mourning as offers of help poured in from dozens of countries for his country and Syria. President Biden called Erdogan to offer help and convey his condolences. Search-and-rescue teams were being sent, the White House said.
Among the help offered by the US were dozens of members of the internationally-known Los Angeles Fire Department’s Urban Search and Rescue team, who were on their way to help in the rescue mission.
And Israel and Russia even offered to help the Syrian government, though it was not clear if they would go to rebel-held areas. The opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense called the situation in that area “disastrous.”
At a hospital in Idlib, Osama Abdel Hamid said he was one of the few to survive the collapse of a four-story building where he and others lived. As he raced out with his wife and three children, a wooden door fell on them that shielded them from dangerous debris.
“God gave me a new lease on life,” he said.
Additional reporting by Marjorie Hernandez
With Post wires
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