More than five days after the devastating earthquake, a two-month-old baby has been recovered alive from rubble in the eastern Turkish province of Hatay. The infant in the Mediterranean community of İskenderun was buried under rubble for 128 hours before being pulled out and taken to a hospital, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu News Agency reported.
But such miracle reports are becoming increasingly rare five days after the earthquake, and the chances of survival are now negligible. Normally, a person can go a maximum of 72 hours without water. Added to this are the cool temperatures. Rescue workers therefore recover hundreds more bodies every day.
So far, more than 25,000 people have lost their lives in the Syrian-Turkish border area. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke of 21,848 deaths in a televised appearance for Turkey on Saturday. More than 3,500 are reported from Syria. Almost 85,000 people were also injured in the two countries, and hundreds of thousands were made homeless by the natural disaster.
Due to the increasingly desperate situation, riots are said to have broken out. Several aid organizations have suspended their operations for the time being. The Technical Relief Agency (THW), the aid organization ISAR Germany and the Austrian Armed Forces spoke of a difficult security situation for the rescue workers on Saturday.
UN describes earthquake as worst disaster in region for 100 years
“There is increasing aggression between groups in Turkey. Shots are said to have been fired,” said Lieutenant Colonel Pierre Kugelweis from the Austrian Armed Forces of the APA news agency. ISAR head of operations Steven Bayer said: “It can be seen that sadness is slowly giving way to anger.” Tamara Schwarz, spokeswoman for the THW headquarters in Bonn, spoke of “tumultuous scenes”. The protection of the volunteers is now a priority. However, the teams stayed put. THW and ISAR further stated: “The reason for this seems to be, among other things, the shortage of food and the difficult water supply in the earthquake area.”
Thousands more are feared to die from the collapsed buildings. A 7.7 magnitude tremor shook the border area early Monday morning, followed by another 7.6 magnitude tremor at noon. Since then, there have been aftershocks in the region until Saturday morning in 1891, according to the Turkish civil protection authority Afad.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths described the earthquake in parts of Turkey and Syria as the worst disaster in this region in 100 years. At a press conference in Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province on Saturday, Griffiths praised Turkey’s response to the disaster as exceptional. It is still unclear whether aid to Syria will reach both government-held and opponent-held areas.
For help in Aleppo: Turkey opens border crossing with Armenia
According to information from the German Press Agency, the search teams did not find any more survivors in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Information from the area is still sparse. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), aid for Syria must be significantly increased. “We need to act with greater urgency, on a larger scale, and to organize better,” said Richard Brennan, the WHO’s emergency response director for the Eastern Mediterranean region, in Aleppo on Saturday.
In Aleppo alone, in the government-controlled part of north-west Syria, around 200,000 people have lost their roofs, according to initial estimates. In order to better care for those affected, Turkey opened a border crossing to Armenia for aid deliveries – despite a deep hostility to the neighboring country. According to the Turkish authorities, around 160,000 search and rescue workers are deployed. More than 7,700 helpers were sent to the earthquake area from abroad.
According to the Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey, Berlin wants to set up an “airlift” for the transport of relief supplies. “And with many who have donated, we have succeeded (…) in building an airlift from Berlin to Turkey, also in cooperation with the Turkish embassy, with the consulate general,” said the SPD politician on Saturday Commemoration of the earthquake victims at the Brandenburg Gate.
Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (Greens) once again spoke out in favor of rapid entry facilitation so that those affected by the earthquake can come to Germany to see relatives. The federal government had promised a “pragmatic solution” for issuing visas to survivors of the earthquake disaster.
How can I donate to the victims of the earthquake?
Here is a selection of organizations that are classified as reputable by the German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI). The complete list can be found on the DZI website:
Doctors Without Borders V. – Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), German section, www.aerzte-without-borders.deBank for Social Economy, Iban: DE72 3702 0500 0009 7097 00
Action Deutschland Hilft e. v, www.aktion-deutschland-hilft.deBank for Social Economy, Iban: DE62 3702 0500 0000 1020 30, keyword: earthquake Turkey and Syria
German Red Cross e. v, www.drk.de, Bank for social economy, Iban: DE63 3702 0500 0005 0233 07, keyword: emergency aid earthquake Turkey and Syria
UN Refugee Aid e. v, www.uno-fluechtlingshilfe.deSparkasse Köln-Bonn, Iban: DE78 3705 0198 0020 0088 50, keyword: earthquake