In Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province, helpers rescued two brothers aged 17 and 21 on Tuesday morning, state news agency Anadolu and broadcaster CNN Türk reported. They were under the rubble for 198 hours. In Adiyaman province, an 18-year-old boy who was also buried for 198 hours was rescued.
According to Anadolu, a 26-year-old woman was rescued alive after 201 hours under rubble in Hatay province. The information could not be independently verified. Helpers also rescued living victims on Monday, it was said.
The survivors who are still being found must have had access to liquids – such as rainwater, snow or other sources. Usually, a person can do without water for about 72 hours, that is, three days, after which it becomes life-threatening. This deadline has already been exceeded.
Portal/Nir Elias Destroyed house in Kahramanmaras province, Turkey
Thousands remain missing
The confirmed death toll stood at over 37,500 as of Tuesday morning and over 80,000 people were injured. Thousands remain missing. Numerous buildings and parts of the infrastructure were destroyed. A report by the Turkish trade and business association Türkonfed estimates damage from the earthquake at around US$84 billion (about €79 billion).
Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned of the catastrophic situation of millions of children in urgent need of humanitarian aid. The total number of boys and girls affected is still unclear, but according to UNICEF, 4.6 million children live in the ten provinces of Turkey affected by the earthquake. More than 2.5 million children are affected in Syria.
Portal/Clodagh Kilcoyne Rescue workers in the Turkish province of Hatay
“Corpse smell grows stronger”
The situation in crisis zones remains difficult. “The suffering of the people is indescribable,” Heinz Wegerer, humanitarian aid coordinator for Hilfswerk International, told a news conference on Tuesday. He did not return to Austria from Turkey until Monday. “The corpse smell is getting stronger,” said the rescuer. Austrian organization Hilfswerk International is providing emergency aid in the hard-hit province of Hatay.
neighbor in distress
Help for earthquake victims
Wegerer has been working in the Turkish coastal town of Iskenderun since Thursday. “What I saw there, what I experienced there, is difficult or impossible to put into words,” he told a press conference in Vienna. The experienced helper has already been deployed in Yemen, Iraq and eastern Ukraine. The desperate situation of the population in the earthquake area is very close to him.
In Iskenderun, for example, there are “four parallel streets with all the buildings left and right destroyed,” Wegerer said. There are still many people missing under the rubble, “people have been sitting in front of the destroyed buildings and resisting since last Monday, hoping for a miracle,” he said.
Syria: Assad wants to open more border crossings
President Bashar al-Assad wants to open two more border crossings with Turkey to improve humanitarian aid in the hard-to-reach areas hit by the earthquake in Syria. Bab al-Salam and al-Rai are expected to be open for three months, the UN emergency aid coordinator told the UN Security Council on Monday, according to several diplomats. So far, the United Nations has only been able to provide aid to areas not controlled by the government through a border crossing, the Bab al-Hawa crossing. Northwest Syria is controlled by several rebel groups.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed Assad’s decision. “Opening these border crossings – in addition to facilitating humanitarian access, speeding up visa approvals and facilitating travel between hubs – will allow more aid to arrive more quickly.”
Portal/Firas Makdesi Relief supplies are unloaded in Aleppo, Syria
Saudi Arabian plane lands for the first time
The Syrian ruler expects international help to rebuild the country. Assad, speaking to Griffiths on Monday, stressed “the importance of international efforts” to help “restore infrastructure in Syria”, said a statement released by the Syrian presidency.
Because of the devastating earthquake in the Turkish-Syrian border region, a Saudi Arabian plane landed in Syria for the first time in over a decade. The plane brought 35 tonnes of food to Aleppo for earthquake victims on Tuesday, Syrian state news agency SANA reported. The city in northwest Syria is under the control of the Damascus government. According to the information, the last landing took place in February 2012. Two more Saudi Arabian planes are scheduled to land in Syria on Wednesday and Thursday, Suleiman Chalil, who works for the Transport Ministry in Damascus, told AFP.
Portal/Firas Makdesi A destroyed house with a family in Aleppo
government banned internationally
Assad’s Syrian government is outlawed internationally because of the 12-year civil war. The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership in 2011. Saudi Arabia and several other Arab countries severed diplomatic relations with Syria.
Riyadh’s government, which supported rebels at the start of the Syrian civil war, has pledged to deliver aid to earthquake victims in rebel-held areas and government-held areas in Damascus. On Saturday, Riyadh sent 11 trucks with 104 tonnes of food and tarpaulins to rebel-held areas in northwest Syria, according to Saudi news agency SPA.
Significant subsidence at Iskenderun
In the early morning of February 6, the first tremor of magnitude 7.7 shook the Turkish-Syrian border region, followed hours later by a second aftershock of magnitude 7.6. Since then, there have been more than 2,400 aftershocks. Ten provinces have been affected in Turkey – there is now a three-month state of emergency. More than 100,000 volunteers traveled to the earthquake zone to help. Some of them have already returned to their homeland.
According to satellite data, severe earthquakes can also have long-term geological consequences. “The coastal town of Iskenderun appears to have suffered significant subsidence, causing flooding, while the earthquake has put many hills across the country at serious risk of landslides,” the European Space Agency (ESA) said. Broadcaster NTV reported last week that buildings in the Turkish coastal city had to be evacuated because of flooded streets.