Children found alive in earthquakes in Turkey, Syria exceed 22,000

Monday’s earthquake was the biggest to hit Turkey since 1939.

Kahramanmaras, Turkey:

Rescue workers pulled children alive from the rubble of the Turkey-Syria earthquake on Friday as the count passed 22,000 and the bitter cold added to the suffering of the homeless.

In the Turkish city of Kahmanaras, one of the worst-hit by the region’s worst earthquake in nearly a century, the stench of death stuck in the air.

But as crews entered a fifth day of peeling back flattened buildings, Turkish media reported the rescue of young children, long after the 72-hour period when survivors were considered most likely to be found had expired. She goes.

Rescuers pulled 18-month-old Yusuf Hussein from the rubble in the southeastern city of Antakya in the 105th hour. Twenty minutes later, they rescued seven-year-old Muhammad Hussein, the NTV news channel reported.

Three-year-old Zeynep Ella Parlak was also rescued in Antakya on Friday, while in Adyaman province, rescuers rescued 60-year-old Ip Ek, and in Gaziantep, two people, including a child whose age was not known, were pulled out alive.

“Half an hour ago, we managed to pull two survivors out of the rubble,” the Czech Fire Service tweeted on Friday about its teams in Adıyaman, southeastern Turkey.

Turkish officials said rescue workers on Thursday pulled out a 10-day-old baby and its mother alive after being trapped for 90 hours in the worst-hit Hatay province.

The baby, named Yagiz Ulas, was swiftly wrapped in a thermal blanket.

the bodies go home

Turkish miners who are experts at rescuing their colleagues have told how they rushed to the aid of those trapped in Monday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake.

Minor Ismail Hakki Kalkan said, “Our heart could not stand it.”

Yet the bodies of seven Cypriot children, as well as two teachers and a parent killed by the earthquake in Adıyaman, were taken home on Friday, Turkish media reported, adding that 19 children had died in the group.

Two dozen children aged 11 to 14 from the island, along with 10 parents, four teachers and a volleyball coach, were in Turkey for a school tournament and were staying at a hotel that was destroyed.

In the region, many displaced and suffering from Syria’s civil war, there was growing concern over the many people left without shelter amid freezing temperatures.

UN aid and rescue teams have arrived, while the US Agency for International Development has offered an $85 million package including food, shelter and emergency health services.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths have both announced upcoming visits.

“As this tragic event unfolds, the desperate plight of the people must be addressed,” said Mirjana Spoljeric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who traveled to earthquake-hit Aleppo in Syria.

Banned Kurdish militants are temporarily suspending “operations” in Turkey after a massive earthquake rocked the country and Syria, a PKK leader said.

Aid is being delivered to rebel-held areas

A news agency of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) ANF quoted leader Cemil Bayik as saying, “There are thousands of our people under the rubble. Everyone should use all their means.”

An official at the Bab al-Hawa crossing told AFP that first aid was being carried out in rebel-held northwestern Syria since Thursday’s earthquake.

A decade of civil war and Syrian-Russian aerial bombardment had already destroyed hospitals, collapsed the economy and fueled power, fuel and water shortages.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the Security Council to authorize the opening of new cross-border humanitarian aid points between Turkey and Syria.

“This is a moment for unity, this is not a moment to politicize or divide, but it is clear that we need massive support,” Mr Guterres said.

The temperature in Gaziantep, the Turkish city near the epicenter, dropped to minus three degrees Celsius (26 degrees Fahrenheit) early Friday.

Despite the cold, thousands of families are living in cars and makeshift tents — too scared or banned from returning home.

Gyms, mosques, schools and some stores have opened in the night. But there is a shortage of beds, and thousands spend the night in cars with engines running to provide heat.

‘It hurts to be silent’

Monday’s earthquake was the biggest Turkey has seen since 1939, when 33,000 people were killed in eastern Erzincan province.

Officials and medics said Monday’s earthquake had killed 18,991 people in Turkey and 3,377 in Syria, bringing the total death toll to 22,368.

Experts fear the numbers will continue to rise.

Anger has erupted over the government’s handling of the disaster.

“Those who did not die from the quake were left to freeze to death,” Hakan Tanriverdi told AFP in Adiyaman province.

On a visit to the area, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged that there were “shortcomings” in the government’s handling of the disaster.

In the devastated Turkish city of Nurdagi, close to the epicenter, emergency workers ordered silence after a possible survivor was found, using drones and heat-detecting monitors.

Emre, a local resident, waited next to a block on a main street in the city, saying, “The calm is painful. We don’t know what to expect.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)