The toll from the earthquake in southeastern Turkey and neighboring Syria continues to rise dramatically. According to the latest official report on Tuesday morning, nearly twenty hours after the first of three tremors, with a magnitude of 7.8 felt as far away as Lebanon, Cyprus and northern Iraq, more than 4,300 people were killed. including 2,921 in Turkey according to the public disaster management body (Afad) and more than 1,440 in Syria. The Turkish head of state has declared national mourning for seven days and the closure of schools for the week.
During the night from Monday to Tuesday, the rescuers fought hard in the cold, in the pouring rain or snow, sometimes with their bare hands, to save every life that could be saved. The bad weather that hangs over Anatolia complicates the task of rescue and makes the fate of the survivors even more bitter, shivering in tents or around improvised braziers.
International aid to Turkey should start arriving on Tuesday with the first teams of rescuers, from France and Qatar in particular. The French planned to go in particular to Kahramanmaras, epicenter of the first earthquake, a region difficult to access and deeply bruised buried under the snow.
US President Joe Biden for his part promised his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan “all the necessary help, whatever it is”. Two American detachments of 79 rescuers each were preparing to go there on Monday, the White House said. According to the Turkish president, 45 countries have offered their help.
Russia at the bedside of Syria
On the other hand, in Syria, the appeal launched by the authorities in Damascus was mainly heard by its Russian ally, promising rescue teams “in the next few hours”, while according to the army, more than 300 Russian soldiers are already on the ground. places to assist with rescue. The UN also reacted, but insisted that the aid provided would go “to all Syrians throughout the territory”, part of which is not under government control. In these rebel-held areas, bordering Turkey in northwestern Syria, at least 700 dead have been counted.
The balance sheets on both sides of the border have continued to increase and given the extent of the damage they should increase as the search progresses. In Turkey alone, the authorities have counted nearly 5,000 collapsed buildings. And the drastic drop in temperatures puts the wounded, stuck in the ruins, at an additional risk of hypothermia. The World Health Organization has said itself that it expects the worst and fears “tolls eight times higher than the initial numbers”.