Turkey finds more survivors, but hopes are fading a week after quake, latest world news

KAHRAMANMARAS – Turkish rescuers survived a collapsed building on Monday and pulled a hole to reach a family’s grandmother, mother and daughter, a week after the worst earthquake in modern history struck the country. was digging

The total death toll in Turkey and neighboring Syria from last Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake topped 37,000 and looks set to continue rising, in hopes of finding more survivors in the rapid decline of the rubble. I got

The UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said during a visit to Aleppo in northern Syria on Monday that the rescue phase was “coming to an end”, with focus shifting to providing shelter, food and schools. rice field.

But as he spoke, the southeastern Turkish team pulled more people out of the rubble. A girl named Mirei was rescued in Adiyaman 178 hours after the quake, and a 35-year-old woman was also rescued in the same city, officials said.

A video shared online by the mayor of Istanbul showed a woman named Naide Umey being carried alive from the chaos of crumbling masonry and twisted iron bars in Antakya. Workers clapped as she was taken to the ambulance.

Broadcaster Haber Türk reported that another woman and two children had been rescued in Antakya, while CNN Turk reported that a woman had been removed from rubble in southern Gaziantep province.

three generations trapped

Rescue workers in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras said they had contact with a grandmother, mother and baby trapped in one room of a three-story building, and a fourth may be in another. .

Rescuers, including Spanish teams and Turkish police and military, are trying to break through the wall to reach the survivors, but said the column is holding them back. Said he was in the mail.

“They are still alive and in very good condition. We are doing our best to get them and I feel very strongly that we can get them.

“It’s already a miracle. Seven days later they are there in good condition, without water or food,” she said.

Turkey’s worst earthquake since 1939 has killed 31,643 people and forced 160,000 to flee the quake zone, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency said.

More than 4,300 people were reported dead and 7,600 injured in northwestern Syria as of Sunday, according to the United Nations agency. Combined with reported tolls from areas held by the country’s government, the number of reported deaths in Syria comes to more than 5,714.

The quake is the sixth deadliest natural disaster of the century, following the 2005 earthquake that killed at least 73,000 people in Pakistan.

Syria aid

In Syria, the rebel-held northwest was hit hardest by the disaster, leaving many people displaced several times already by the civil war a decade ago once again homeless. The area receives little aid compared to government-held areas.

Only one checkpoint is currently open on the Turkish-Syrian border for UN aid, but the UN has said it wants to open two more border points.

Earthquake aid from government-held areas to areas controlled by hardline opposition groups has been stalled by approval issues with the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which controls much of the region, the UN said. spokesman said.

HTS sources in Idlib said the group would not allow shipments from government-held areas and that aid would come north from Turkey.

The United States called on the Syrian government and all other parties to immediately grant humanitarian access to all those in need.

There was growing dissatisfaction in the region, especially among UN aid workers and the general public.

“From the beginning of the catastrophe, we called on the UN to intervene immediately,” said the head of the Turkish-backed opposition coalition Salem al-Muslett in a statement criticizing the UN. “The United Nations wants to make sure that liberated areas are not disappointed,” he said.

security concerns

Residents and aid workers in several Turkish cities cite a deteriorating security situation, with widespread reports of robberies of businesses and collapsed homes. Some business owners emptied their stores on Sundays to prevent looters from stealing their goods.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government would take a firm stand against looters as he faces questions about his response to the earthquake ahead of elections scheduled for June.

Turkish authorities have launched a crackdown on social media accounts that post “provocative” posts deemed to spread fear and panic among the public, the country’s police headquarters said on Monday. 56 were detained and 14 were remanded.

Amid concerns about hygiene and the spread of infections in the region, Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said last weekend that rabies and tetanus vaccines had been sent to the affected areas and mobile pharmacies had opened there.

Around 80,000 people were hospitalized over the weekend, with more than one million in temporary shelters, Turkey said.

Destruction in Turkey could cost Ankara up to US$84.1 billion (S$112 billion) in damages, one group of companies said, but government officials put the figure at more than US$50 billion. I estimate. – Reuters