Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, death toll continues to rise and is around 5000, February 7, 2023

Euskaraz irakurri: Laguntza humanitarian iristists hasi da, Turkia et Siria biktimak erreskatatzen saiatzen ari diren bitartean

The earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria has mobilized the support of nearly a hundred countries and institutions, mainly with the contribution of volunteer teams for the rescues, as well as funding and supplies for the care of the survivors. Aid arrives unevenly, however, as the Ottoman state has more resources than war-torn Syria.

The Turkish President himself, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, thanked today for this material and human aid sent, according to his records, by 70 states and 14 international organizations in a rescue operation consisting of about 50,000 peopleincluding the presence of 2,700 rescue specialists from 65 countries who have already arrived or are on their way to the hardest hit areas.

And it is that, after the earthquakes, there is alone a window of seven days to save the people buried under the rubble, said today a representative of the UN Humanitarian Aid Office, the first to intervene in disasters.

This estimate is the result of countless rescues around the world, although always there may be exceptions and that the victims are getting a little more time, that entity’s spokesperson, Jens Laerke, noted as he drew up an initial assessment of the human cost of the tragedy.

More than 7200 people are deceased and 35,000 injured as a result of the succession of earthquakes recorded in southeastern Turkey near the border with Syria, according to updated casualty balances provided by the authorities of both countries.

As reported by the envoy to the area, Michael Ayestaran, the night has been long. The low temperatures and the snow in the area, which also includes mountain areas that are difficult to access, complicate the rescue tasks. However, the search efforts have not stopped and rescuers are struggling to pull survivors from the rubble of the dozens of collapsed buildings.

Until now, 8000 people have been rescued among the rubble of the thousands of buildings that have collapsed.

This morning a 30-year-old man was pulled alive from the rubble of a building. almost 30 hours later before the quakes started. A mother and her three children have also been found alive after being trapped for 28 hours.

Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said this on Tuesday state of emergency for three months in the ten provinces affected by the earthquakes recorded on Monday.

Aid goes to Turkey, not so much to Syria

Some 25,000 people, including soldiers, are taking part in the rescue efforts, according to Orhan Tatar, a senior official at the national aid organization Afad, who reported that 12.1 million euros ($13.3 million) in urgent funds for the 10 most affected provinces.

In addition, more than 2,700 rescue workers from 65 countries have arrived or are on their way to the hardest hit areas. Dozens of countries have already started sending hundreds of rescuers and experts to search for survivors.

According to the official Syrian news agency SANA, two Iraqi and an Iranian aircraft loaded with supplies for the victims of the Syrian earthquake have landed in Damascus.

Each of the two planes sent through Baghdad carries some 70 tons of food, medical supplies and other supplies, with more shipments expected to follow as the neighboring country has announced an airlift for the purpose, SANA has assured, a head of the Iraqi foreign ministry. Osama Mahdi Ghanem.

However, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Ahmed al Mandhari, denounced today that we should not wait for “tragic events” such as earthquakes to remind us of the situation in Syria, which I hadn’t already had. received not even half of the funding needed.

Even before the earthquakes, Syria was suffering its worst humanitarian crisis since the outbreak of the 2011 uprisings against Damascus and the subsequent start of the war. 90% of the population is mired in povertyshortages of basic commodities and millions of displaced persons.

The Minister of the Interim Government, a body set up by the Syrian National Coalition (CNFROS), the main opposition alliance in exile, has stressed that Idlib and Aleppo They need help for “all” medical centers and for the rescue teams, as well as shelter and food for those affected.

With the exception of occasional shipments from the Damascus areas, these regions can only receive humanitarian aid through the Bab al Hawa border crossing, which connects the country’s last opposition stronghold to Turkey and has also been damaged by earthquakes.

These shipments, mostly sent by allies of Damascus, are not expected to be shared with hostile territories.

For his part, the President of the United States, Joe Bidenhas authorized the shipment of humanitarian aid to Turkey and announced the shipment of additional equipment to support Turkish search and rescue efforts.

More than 350,000 earthquake victims are housed in university centers, shelters and student residences.

Seriously injured people are also being flown to medical centers in Istanbul and Ankara, and a military transport ship has been deployed to take victims from the port of Iskenderoun, southeast of where the epicenter was recorded, to Mersin, where there are better-equipped hospitals.

Local authorities have reported cuts in gas and electricity supplies in some areas, and the state oil company has cut off oil supplies to the region as a “precautionary measure”.

AFAD calculates that more than 6200 buildings they left altogether destroyedmainly due to the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that shook the country yesterday morning and a subsequent 12:00 magnitude earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale.