Turkey-Syria earthquake: The massive earthquake could affect up to 23 million people, WHO said.
Sanliurfa, Turkey:
Rescue workers in Turkey and Syria battled bitter cold on Tuesday as they raced to find survivors under buildings devastated by the earthquake that killed more than 7,800 people.
The tremors inflicted more pain on the already strife-torn border region, leaving people in the streets burning debris to try to stay warm as international aid arrived.
But some extraordinary survival stories have emerged, including a newborn baby pulled alive from rubble in Syria, still tied by an umbilical cord to its mother, who died in Monday’s earthquake.
“We heard a sound while we were digging,” Khalil al-Suwadi, a relative, told AFP. “We cleared the dust and found the baby with the umbilical cord (intact), so we cut it and my cousins took it to the hospital.”
The infant is the sole survivor of his immediate family, the rest of whom were killed in the rebel-held town of Jindayaris.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck on Monday while people were sleeping, leveling thousands of structures, trapping an unknown number of people and potentially affecting millions.
Rows of buildings collapsed, leaving some of the heaviest destruction near the epicenter between the Turkish cities of Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras.
The destruction prompted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to declare a three-month state of emergency on Tuesday in 10 southeastern provinces.
– ‘The kids are freezing’ –
Dozens of countries have pledged help, including the United States, China and Gulf states, and search teams as well as relief supplies have begun arriving by air.
Yet people in some of the most affected areas said they felt left to fend for themselves.
“I can’t bring my brother back from the ruins. I can’t bring my nephew back. Look around. For God’s sake there are no government officials here,” said Ali Sgiroglu in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras.
“For two days we haven’t seen the situation around here…the children are freezing cold,” he said.
A winter storm has added to the misery by rendering many roads – some of them damaged by earthquakes – almost impassable, resulting in traffic jams that stretch for kilometers in some areas.
Freezing rain and snow are a risk to those forced from their homes – who took refuge in mosques, schools or bus shelters – and survivors buried under rubble.
“It is now a race against time,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organisation.
“We have activated the WHO network of emergency medical teams to provide essential health care to the injured and most vulnerable,” he added.
– 23 crore may be affected –
The latest toll put 5,434 dead in Turkey and at least 1,872 in Syria, bringing the total to 7,306 deaths.
There are fears that the death toll will continue to rise, with WHO officials estimating that up to 20,000 may die.
The World Health Organization warned that the massive quake could affect 23 million people and urged countries in the disaster zone to help.
The Syrian Red Crescent appealed to Western countries to lift sanctions and provide aid as President Bashar al-Assad’s government remains a pariah in the West, complicating international relief efforts.
Washington and the European Commission said Monday that the humanitarian programs they support are responding to the devastation in Syria.
The UN cultural agency UNESCO also said it was ready to provide aid after two sites listed on its World Heritage list in Syria and Turkey were damaged.
In addition to the damage to Aleppo’s old city and the fortress in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, at least three other World Heritage sites could be affected, UNESCO said.
Much of the quake-hit area in northern Syria has already been devastated by years of war and aerial bombardment by the Syrian and Russian forces, which destroyed homes, hospitals and clinics.
Residents of the earthquake-ravaged town of Janderis in northern Syria used their bare hands and a spade to search for survivors.
– ‘Hear His Voice’ –
“My whole family is there – my son, my daughter, my son-in-law… there is no one else to get them out,” said Ali Battal, his face covered in blood and his head wrapped in a woolen shawl against the bitter cold. Against.
“I hear their voices. I know they are alive, but there is no one to save them,” said the 60-year-old man.
The Syrian health ministry reported damage in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartus, where Russia is leasing a naval facility.
Even before the tragedy, buildings in Aleppo – Syria’s pre-war commercial center – often collapsed due to dilapidated infrastructure.
After the quake, inmates mostly members of the Islamic State group in northwestern Syria fled the prison, with at least 20 surviving, a source at the facility told AFP.
Turkey is one of the most active earthquake zones in the world.
The country’s last 7.8-magnitude quake occurred in 1939, when 33,000 people were killed in eastern Ergincan province.
In 1999 a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the Turkish region of Duz, killing more than 17,000 people.
Experts have long warned that a major earthquake could devastate Istanbul, a megalopolis of 16 million people filled with dilapidated homes.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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