CNN
,
Rescuers in southern Turkey say they are still hearing voices from under the rubble more than a week later Devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquakeoffers a glimmer of hope to find more survivors.
Live images broadcast on CNN affiliate CNN Turk showed rescuers working in two areas of the Kahramanmaras region, where they were trying to rescue three sisters believed to be buried under rubble.
In the same area, emergency workers rescued a 35-year-old woman who was believed to have been buried for about 205 hours, according to state broadcaster TRT Haber.
The broadcaster also reported that two brothers – 17-year-old Muhammad Ens Yeninar and 21-year-old brother Abdulbaki Yenir – were also pulled from the collapsed buildings on Tuesday. Further east in the city of Adıyaman, rescuers pulled an 18-year-old boy and a survivor from the rubble, according to CNN Turk, while Ukrainian rescue teams pulled a woman alive from the rubble in the southern province of Hatay.
Eight days after the earthquake and subsequent violent aftershocks, more than 41,200 people are confirmed dead across Turkey and Syria, and survival stories are becoming fewer and farther between.
UNICEF said it feared that even without verified numbers, it was “sadly clear” that the number of children killed after the earthquake “will continue to rise.”
James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children’s agency, said 4.6 million children live in the 10 Turkish provinces affected by the disaster, while 2.5 million have been affected in Syria.
As rescue operations begin to shift to restoration efforts, UN workers are rushing to aid survivors in Syria through two new government-approved border crossings in Damascus.
The United Nations on Monday approved Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s decision to allow timed deliveries to “the two crossing points of Bab al-Salaam and Al Rai” between Turkey and northwest Syria for an initial period of three months. welcomed. Humanitarian aid. ,
Eleven trucks with UN aid crossed into northwest Syria via the Bab al-Salaam route on Tuesday, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said, adding that 26 more trucks would enter the region via the Bab al-Hawa crossing. passed.
then came the news UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that two new borders carrying aid from Turkey inside Syria are “open and goods are flowing.”
Guterres emphasized that people suffering from this natural disaster should not be made worse by man-made barriers such as access, money and supplies.
The United Nations is launching a $397 million humanitarian appeal for three months for victims of the earthquake in Syria and is finalizing a similar appeal for survivors in Turkey, Guterres announced.
International aid has been delayed in rebel-held areas in northern and northwestern Syria. The situation has been compounded by years of conflict and an already existing humanitarian crisis, adding to the woes of survivors, who lack food, shelter and medicine as they battle freezing conditions .
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said last week that any aid to the country should go through the capital, Damascus. But many Western countries have been reluctant to lift sanctions despite Assad’s request that the measures be taken after a brutal campaign against his regime that included hundreds of thousands Civilians have died during the years-long civil war.
Also on Tuesday, a Saudi Arabian plane carrying 35 tonnes of food, medical aid and shelter landed at Aleppo International Airport, the first shipment of aid from the kingdom to government-held territory since the February 6 earthquake. State media reported.
Two more aid planes are due to arrive in Syria on Wednesday and Thursday, according to Faleh al-Subaei, head of the aid department at the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay denied reports of a shortage of food and aid. “There was no problem feeding the public” and “millions of blankets are being sent to all areas,” he said on live television.
Turkey’s foreign ministry said more than 9,200 foreign personnel are taking part in the country’s search and rescue operations, while 100 countries have offered help so far.
On Monday, UN aid chief Griffiths said the rescue phase of the response was “coming to a close” during a visit to the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
“And now the humanitarian phase, the urgency of providing shelter, psychosocial care, food, schooling and a sense of future for these people, it is now our obligation,” he said.
After announcing the end of its search and rescue operation last week, the “White Helmets” group, officially known as the Syria Civil Defense, on Monday began a seven-day siege in rebel-controlled areas in the country’s north. Mourning period declared.
The World Health Organization (WHO) stresses the need to “focus on trauma rehabilitation” when treating populations suffering from a devastating disaster.
Batir Berdiklychev, Turkey’s representative to the World Health Organisation, highlighted the “growing problem” of a “traumatic population”, estimating the need for psychological and mental health services in affected areas.
“People are only now starting to realize what has happened to them after this shock period,” Berdiklychev said, speaking at a media briefing from the Turkish city of Adana on Tuesday.
Berdiklychev said the WHO is in talks with Turkish authorities to ensure that earthquake survivors can access mental health services, noting that there is a lack of access to many people displaced by the quake in other regions of Turkey. will also be required.
Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, told the briefing that an “urgent priority” for the 22 emergency medical teams deployed by the WHO to Turkey is “especially dealing with the high number of trauma patients and catastrophic injuries”. Is.”
Correction: This story has been updated to clarify that the 18-year-old boy and a man who were rescued were in the town of Adiyaman.