Numbers keep rising – Already more than 10,000 dead in Turkey and Syria

During the day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is seeking re-election in mid-May, was expected in the disaster area. On Tuesday, he declared a state of emergency in the ten affected provinces and promised rapid aid. However, dissatisfaction with the authorities is growing among the desperate local population.

“Where are the tents?”
‘Where are the tents? Where are the food trucks?” said a woman in the city of Antakya, which was hit hard by the tremors. So far she has not seen any rescue teams. “Unlike previous disasters in our country, we have not seen any food distribution here. We survived the earthquake, but we will die of hunger or cold here.”

The Turkish opposition leader accused President Erdogan of failing to manage the crisis. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition party CHP, said the president had failed to prepare the country for such an earthquake during his 20-year reign. Turkey is particularly prone to earthquakes due to its geographical location. In many places, however, the poor building material is also cited as the reason for the many collapsed houses.

Horror stories don’t stop
Meanwhile, the horror reports of new victims should not stop. Feverishly, helpers continue to search for people under the rubble. A fight against time – and against freezing temperatures. The political situation on the ground also complicates aid – for example at the only open border crossing, Bab al-Hawa, between Turkey and Syria.

The delivery of humanitarian aid there is being delayed because of road damage, UN sources said. Sources in the border crossing area said some major roads leading to the border suffered cracks or other damage from the tremors.

The work of the helpers is made even more difficult
One of the hardest hit Syrian areas is the rebel-held region of Idlib. The Assad government now controls about two-thirds of the fragmented country. The earthquake disaster hit areas in the north that were under different control, making the job of relief workers even more difficult. In the meantime, the Syrian government has also submitted an application for disaster relief to the EU.

The request for help includes a long list of common disaster protection items, Commissioner Janez Lenarcic, responsible for EU crisis management, said at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday. According to this, Syria asks questions about medicines, food and medical equipment. “I encourage EU states to respond to the request,” said Lenarcic.

With a magnitude of 7.7 to 7.8, the earthquake shook the area on the border between Turkey and Syria on Monday night. Another magnitude 7.5 earthquake followed in the same region on Monday afternoon. Thousands of buildings collapsed. The rescue work is a race against time: the critical survival limit for buried people is usually 72 hours.