The chances of finding survivors under the rubble decrease by the hour. The rescuers work tirelessly – and still report small miracles. But the number of victims is also increasing.
More than three days after the catastrophic earthquake in the Turkish-Syrian border area, the hope of the last survivors is dwindling and the death toll is steadily increasing. Tens of thousands of victims are probably still to be feared under the rubble of the many thousands of collapsed buildings in both countries.
So far, more than 16,000 deaths have been reported. There are also more than 66,000 injured in Turkey and Syria.
The rescue workers are fighting against time. With every hour that has passed since the quake, the chances of finding survivors under the rubble are decreasing. According to the government, more than 100,000 helpers are deployed in Turkey. They are assisted by search dogs.
Early Monday morning, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 according to the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) shook the Turkish-Syrian border area. Another earthquake of magnitude 7.6 followed in the same region on Monday afternoon.
In Turkey, there are now 12,873 confirmed dead and 62,937 injured, the civil protection authority Afad said on Thursday night, according to the Anadolu news agency. According to the Syrian state agency Sana and the rescue organization White Helmets, around 3,200 people died in the quake in Syria.
The federal government is working to improve care for people in northern Syria, which is difficult to reach. The problem is that the “regime” has not allowed any humanitarian aid into the country in the past, said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) on radio station WDR 5 on Thursday. “And we’ve been trying everything in the last few days with this disaster to ensure that more border crossings are made be opened.” One is open, but further access is needed.
When asked whether the federal government was in contact with Damascus, Baerbock said: “We are in contact with all the actors with whom we can now ensure that the aid can arrive.” The government doesn’t work with this “regime,” she emphasized, “that’s why we have to go other ways, which we also did in the past through the United Nations, and now we’re using every opportunity so that the help can get there.”
Six UN trucks on their way to Syria
Six trucks with aid supplies from the United Nations are expected to arrive there on Thursday. They should use the only open border crossing Bab al-Hawa to Turkey, according to UN circles. Trucks have not been able to reach Bab al-Hawa due to damage to roads. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the roads have now been partially repaired.
Even before the earthquake, the Bab al-Hawa border crossing was a lifeline for around 4.5 million people in areas in the northwest not controlled by the Syrian government. According to the UN, 90 percent of the population there were already dependent on humanitarian aid before the disaster. Millions displaced by the war live in the region.
Activists reported that after the earthquake, no relief supplies were being transported across the border, but instead the bodies of Syrians were being transported from Turkey. Millions of Syrian refugees live in Turkey. The Syrian border authorities published photos of minibuses from which body bags are transferred to vehicles. In north-west Syria alone, an estimated 11,000 people were left homeless by the disaster.
According to the TRT World broadcaster, around 8,000 people have been rescued from the rubble in Turkey so far. A reporter from the TV channel reported on the desperate fight against time: “The rescuers refuse to give up.” But the moments of joy about another rescue were becoming rarer and rarer.
Nevertheless, there are still small reports of success: emergency services rescued a mother and her two children after 78 hours from under the rubble. Pictures showed on Thursday how helpers carried the woman and children to the ambulance on a couch and in slings. They had been staying under the rubble of their home in Kahramanmaras province. The helpers hugged each other. One told broadcaster CNN Türk that he was happy with the small success. They worked for 15 hours to free the family.
Bundeswehr flies 50 tons of relief supplies to the crisis area
The Bundeswehr wants to fly around 50 tons of relief supplies to the region on Thursday. A first plane took off in the morning from Wunstorf in Lower Saxony. Teams from various aid organizations had previously flown to Turkey.
The UN World Food Program (WFP) has also launched aid. “A region that has been plagued by repeated crises for years faces another crisis of unimaginable loss and destruction,” said Corinne Fleischer, WFP regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe.
On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected criticism, including from within the opposition, that his government had not prepared the country for an expected earthquake of this magnitude and had not initiated relief measures quickly enough after the disaster. It is not possible to be prepared for such a disaster, he said on a visit to Kahramanmaras.