DAMASCUS/ISTANBUL (dpa-AFX) – More than three days after the catastrophic earthquake in the Turkish-Syrian border area, the hope of the last survivors is dwindling and the number of dead is constantly increasing. Under the rubble of the thousands of collapsed buildings in both countries, tens of thousands are believed to have died. More than 17,000 deaths have been reported so far. There are also around 70,000 injured in Turkey and Syria.
The rescue workers are fighting against time. With every hour that has passed since the quake, the chances of finding survivors under the rubble are decreasing. According to the government, more than 100,000 helpers are deployed in Turkey. They are assisted by search dogs.
A 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck the Turkish-Syrian border area early Monday morning. Another earthquake of magnitude 7.6 followed in the same region on Monday afternoon.
There are now 14,351 dead in Turkey alone, said the Turkish civil protection authority Afad on Thursday afternoon. More than 63,000 people were injured. At least 3,200 deaths were recently reported from Syria.
In north-west Syria, even three days after the earthquake disaster, rescuing people remains a challenge due to a lack of equipment. “We are missing the essentials. We need big cranes to clear large chunks of (debris). We need heavy equipment to deal with this tragedy,” said Munir Mustafa, deputy head of the White Helmets rescue organization.
“We’re using our hands and shovels to clear up the rubble. Some of us haven’t slept more than six hours in the last 70 hours,” said Ubadah Sikra, who coordinates rescue operations with the White Helmets and is now helping out himself. “Some volunteers refuse to take a break because they want to try to save more lives.” Some of the volunteers would also pull friends and loved ones from the rubble.
The federal government is working to improve the care of people in northern Syria, which is difficult to reach. The problem is that the “regime” has not allowed any humanitarian aid into the country in the past, said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) on radio station WDR 5. When asked whether the federal government was in contact with Damascus, Baerbock said: “We are in touch with all actors with whom we can now ensure that the aid can arrive.”
Six trucks with aid supplies from the United Nations arrived on Thursday to support the earthquake victims in north-west Syria, who are difficult to reach. The transporters started from Turkey and passed through the only open border crossing, Bab al-Hawa, according to the UN. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the damaged roads there had been partially repaired.
Even before the earthquake, the Bab al-Hawa border crossing was a lifeline for around 4.5 million people in the north-west of the country who are not controlled by the Syrian government. According to the UN, 90 percent of the population there were already dependent on humanitarian aid before the disaster. Millions of people displaced by fighting in Syria live in the region. Adding to their suffering are poor nutrition, cholera, cold winter weather and now the aftermath of the earthquakes.
Activists had previously reported that although no aid was being transported after the earthquake, the bodies of Syrians from Turkey were being transported through the border crossing instead. Millions of Syrian refugees live in Turkey. The Syrian border authorities published photos of minibuses from which body bags were transferred to other vehicles. According to the authority, more than 300 bodies of Syrians have come to Syria via Bab al-Hawa since the earthquake on Monday.
According to the TRT World broadcaster, around 8,000 people have been rescued from the rubble in Turkey so far. A reporter from the TV channel reported on the desperate fight against time: “The rescuers refuse to give up.” But the moments of joy about another rescue were becoming rarer and rarer.
Nevertheless, there are still small reports of success: German and British helpers freed a mother and her six-year-old daughter from the rubble of a collapsed house in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras on Thursday night. This was announced by the @fire aid organization on Thursday in Wallenhorst near Osnabrück. According to its spokesman Sebastian Baum, the organization is active in the earthquake region with a total of 40 helpers from all over Germany and neighboring countries. Previously, two people were rescued by @fire helpers early on Wednesday morning.
Mother and child were located in the rubble of the house. Baum reported that the helpers from @fire and the British organization Saraid had worked their way through the rubble for almost 20 hours. At sub-zero temperatures, mother and child threatened to freeze to death.
The first three aid flights by the Bundeswehr took off from Wunstorf in Lower Saxony for Turkey on Thursday. The three Airbus A 400M aircraft were loaded with a total of 50 tons of relief supplies, including almost 2,000 camp beds, sleeping bags and blankets. Tents, heaters and sleeping mats were also brought to the crisis area. The Turkish government has requested materials from the federal government for the accommodation of the population affected by the earthquake, said the President of the THW, Gerd Friedsam. Teams from various aid organizations had previously flown to Turkey./jam/DP/tih