Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: rescuers continue search for survivors

With temperatures around freezing point, many people in the Turkish-Syrian border area had to spend the night outdoors. Rescue workers continued to search for survivors. In Turkey, 7,840 people were rescued.

After the earthquake disaster in the Turkish-Syrian border area, relatives and rescue workers searched for buried people until late at night. Temperatures in the disaster area are around freezing. Many people cannot return to their homes because they have collapsed or it would be too dangerous to return given the numerous aftershocks.

The Ministry of Health had sent 4,200 helpers to the disaster area, said the Turkish Minister of Health, Fahrettin Koca, on Twitter. This number continues to rise. In addition, according to Koca, 813 ambulances and 227 UMKE teams – a disaster relief agency affiliated with the Ministry of Health – are deployed. This number is also increasing.

Injured and sick earthquake victims would first receive medical care in tents and then be transferred to hospitals, Koca said in another tweet.

The death toll rises to more than 4,200

The death toll rose to more than 4,200. The head of the Turkish civil protection authority Afad, Yunus Sezer, said the number of deaths in his own country was 2,921 during the night. In addition, 15,834 “our citizens” were injured. Vice President Fuat Oktay announced late Monday evening that 7,840 people had already been rescued.

According to the Ministry of Health and the rescue organization White Helmets, at least 1,300 people died in Syria on Monday evening.

According to Afad, the main tremor on Monday morning had a magnitude of 7.7 and the epicenter was in Kahramanmaras in southern Turkey. At noon, a 7.5-magnitude tremor shook the same region, according to the Kandilli earthquake station. The Turkish civil protection authority Afad recorded more than 180 aftershocks on Monday and warned of more.

Overcrowded clinics

On the Syrian side of the border, the tremor shook opposition-controlled regions, home to around four million people displaced from other parts of the country because of the civil war.

According to the rescue workers, the already overburdened health facilities and hospitals were quickly overcrowded. Others had to be evacuated, including a maternity hospital, according to the medical organization SAMS.

No comparable earthquake in the region for 900 years

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke of the worst earthquake since 1939 and announced a week of national mourning. The geologist Charlotte Krawczyk from the Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam said there hadn’t been an earthquake of this magnitude in the affected area for about 900 years ARD focal point. It is not possible to predict whether and when further major earthquakes will follow.

Despite tensions with Turkey, Greece sent a rescue team with sniffer dogs to the earthquake area on Monday. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) announced on Monday that the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) is preparing to deliver emergency generators, tents and blankets. Emergency shelters and water treatment facilities could also be provided.

Several states want to help

EU countries want to coordinate with each other. Aid pledges also came from Great Britain, India, Pakistan, Finland, Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, which had been attacked by Russia, and the USA.

US President Joe Biden personally pledged support for Erdogan. The two spoke on the phone on Monday, the White House said. In the conversation, Biden assured that the United States was providing NATO ally Turkey with “any necessary support” to deal with the tragedy. Rescue teams from the US would be quickly dispatched to Turkey to support rescue and recovery work in the earthquake area and to help local people.