Rescuers in Turkey and Syria raced against time early on Wednesday to pull survivors from the rubble as the death toll of the devastating earthquakes neared 11,000.
Rescue workers were racing time to find survivors before they succumbed to cold weather two days after two earthquakes tore through southern Turkey and hit war-ravaged northern Syria.
Number of deaths in Turkey surpassed 8,500, while it exceeded 2,500 in neighboring Syria.
Search teams from nearly 30 countries and aid pledges poured in. But with the damage spread across several cities and towns voices crying for help from within mounds of rubble fell silent.
Turkey
The death toll in Turkey has reached 8,574 while the number of injured neared 50,000, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said on Wednesday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan travelled to the country’s southern region to inspect areas struck by the earthquakes, Turkish media reported.
Anadolu news agency said that Erdogan would visit Kahramanmaras city center first and then the Pazarcik district that was the epicenter of one of Monday’s earthquakes. The Turkish president is later expected to head to Hatay for inspections, the agency added.
Earlier on Tuesday, Erdogan declared a state of emergency — that will last for three months — in 10 provinces affected by the quake.
Syria
Meanwhile, heath authorities in Syria reported 2,530 people has so far died and at least other 4,600 have been wounded.
Damascus on Wednesday activated the European Union civil protection mechanism, the bloc Commission’s head of crisis management Janez Lenarcic has said.
“Earlier today, this morning, we have received a request from the government of Syria for assistance through the civil protection mechanism,” European Commissioner for crisis management Janez Lenarcic told reporters.
For its part, the Syrian Red Crescent has called on Western countries to lift sanctions on the country to facilitate relief efforts.
Eng. Khaled Hboubati, President of the @SYRedCrescent, appeal for the lifting of the economic embargo on #Syria to avert its catastrophic consequences
More 👇🏽https://t.co/gDTb8808Ru#syriaearthquake #earthquake
#Lattakia #Aleppo #Tartous #Hama pic.twitter.com/yilJB32i1a— Syrian Red Crescent (@SYRedCrescent) February 7, 2023
“Lift the economic sanctions imposed on Syria and the Syrian people,” said Khaled Hboubati, president of the Syrian Red Crescent.
“Open the way for us. We are ready to provide assistance. We are ready to provide aid through the crossline and to send aid convoys to Idlib,” he told reporters.
“I call on the United Nations, and the countries on the European Union and the USAID Program to support,” he added.
Source: Agencies
