More than 12,000 dead in Turkey as Syria deaths near 3,000; most rescues happen within first three days, says emergency response expert
Freezing temperatures deepened the misery Thursday for survivors of a massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria that killed at least 15,000 people, as rescuers raced to save countless people still trapped under rubble.
The death toll from Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake is expected to rise sharply as rescue efforts near the 72-hour mark that disaster experts consider the most likely period to save lives.
The number of dead has risen to at least 15,383. Officials and medics said 12,391 people had died in Turkey and 2,992 in Syria from Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor, bringing the confirmed total to 15,383.
Visiting Kahramanmaraş, which was at the epicentre of the quake, Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said “On the first day we experienced some issues, but then on the second day and today the situation is under control”. Erdoğan promised the government aimed to build housing within one year for those left without a home in the 10 provinces affected.
In Syria, more than 298,000 people were forced to leave their homes, Syrian state media reported. The number appeared to be a reference only to the parts of Syria under government control, not those held by other factions in the north-west of the country, which is closer to the epicentre.
The World Health Organization is sending expert teams and special flights with medical supplies to Turkey and Syria, the director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has told a media briefing.
Polish rescuers working in Turkey said they had pulled nine people alive from the rubble so far, including parents with two children and a 13-year-old girl from the ruins in the city of Besni.
Rescue workers and residents erupted in cheers when a family was saved from the rubble of a demolished building in the Syrian village of Bisnia on Wednesday. A man, his son and daughter were pulled out from beneath the rubble where they had been stuck for two days.
Istanbul’s stock exchange operator suspended trading for five days until 15 February and cancelled all trades from Wednesday. Turkey’s Borsa Istanbul suspended trading on its equity and derivatives markets within minutes of opening after market-wide circuit breakers stopped the slide in the main index at 7%. The country’s benchmark index fell as much as 16% from its Friday close before the Wednesday trades were cancelled.
Syria’s government has received help from a host of Arab countries including Egypt and Iraq, as well as from its key ally Russia, which has sent rescue teams and deployed forces already in Syria to join relief work, including in Aleppo.
Syria activated the EU civil protection mechanism, two days after the earthquake, to request further assistance from the 27-country bloc and the eight other nation states that are part of the programme. The European Union mobilised search and rescue teams to help Turkey, while the bloc’s Copernicus satellite system was activated to provide emergency mapping services. At least 19 member countries have offered assistance.
Cold weather continues to affect the region with minimum and maximum temperatures for Kahramanmaraş of -6C and 1C (21-34F), for Gaziantep between -5C and 1C, and Diyarbakır expected to have continued snowfall with temperatures climbing to 2C at most.
