in the rescue turkey Dozens of children have been pulled alive from collapsed buildings, a week after the worst in the country Earthquake In modern history, however, such examples are becoming rare.
In a city, rescuers dig a tunnel to reach a grandmother, mother and daughter of a family who appear to have survived the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and aftershocks that killed more than 37,000 people in Turkey And Syria,
But others braced for an inevitable scaling back of operations as low temperatures reduced their already slim chances of survival, with some Polish rescuers announcing they would leave on Wednesday.
Martin Griffiths, the UN aid chief in Syria’s devastated city of Aleppo, said the rescue phase was “coming to a close”, with a focus on shelter, food and schooling.
In a sign of hope, a 13-year-old, identified only by his first name, Kan, was pulled alive on Monday after spending 182 hours under the rubble of a collapsed building in Turkey’s southern Hatay province, his head tied He was taken to the hospital, and covered for warmth, before being taken away in an ambulance. Officials said a young girl named Mire was recovered alive in the southeastern Turkish city of Adiyaman, while state broadcaster TRT Haber said a 10-year-old girl was rescued in the southern Turkish province of Kahramanmaras.
At least two other children and three adults were also reported to have been rescued.
In a dramatic rescue effort in the Turkish city of Kahanmaras, rescuers said they had contact with a grandmother, mother and child trapped in a room in the remains of a three-story building. Rescue workers were digging a second tunnel to reach them after the first route was blocked.
“I have a very strong feeling that we are going to get them,” said Berku Baldouf, head of Turkey’s voluntary healthcare team. “It is already a miracle. After seven days, they are there without water, without food and in good condition.
On the same street, emergency workers found a body covered in a black bag. “It’s your brother,” said a sorrowful woman, with another sigh. “No. No.”
The Turkish toll now exceeds the 31,643 killed in the earthquake in 1939, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said, making it the worst earthquake in Turkey’s modern history.
The death toll in Syria, a country ravaged by more than a decade of civil war, is approaching 6,000, including those killed in both rebel-held and government-held areas.
A business group said Turkey was facing a bill of up to $84.1bn (£69.3bn).
Dozens of residents and overwhelmed first responders have expressed surprise at shortages of water, food, medicine, body bags and cranes in the disaster areas, with many criticizing the excessively slow and centralized response by Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) Is.
“God knows what will happen next,” said Ismail Yurlak. He said he had been living in a tent after his home in Kahramanmaras was razed by authorities, who in his words had left his family to figure things out on their own.
The International Monetary Fund called for an international effort to help Syria, where the rebel-held northwest has received little aid. Only one crossing from Turkey into Syria is now open for aid from the UN, although the UN says it hopes to open two more.
Aid has been withheld from government-held areas to areas controlled by hardline opposition groups. A source in Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist group that controls much of the region, told Reuters the group would not allow shipments from government-held areas and that aid would come from Turkey.
There was growing despair among aid workers and civilians in rebel-held areas of Syria.
“We call on the United Nations to intervene immediately from the early days of the catastrophe,” said the head of the Turkish-backed opposition coalition, Salem Al Muslet. “The United Nations wants to absolve itself of the crippling of free zones.”
reuters