A two-year-old has been rescued from the rubble in Antakya, Turkey as the death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquakes has passed 20,000. At least 17,674 people have died in Turkey, according to Vice President Fuat Oktay, while at least 3,317 have been killed in Syria.The first UN aid convoy has reached rebel-held northwest Syria from Turkey.Hopes of finding survivors are quickly fading and residents of southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria are criticising what they call slow search and rescue efforts.Yet amid the freezing cold, rescue workers are still pulling people out alive from the rubble, as search operations continue for a fourth day.
Thousands who lost their homes in the catastrophic earthquake huddled around campfires and clamored for food and water in the bitter cold, three days after the temblor and a series of aftershocks hit Turkey and Syria, killing more than 19,300.
Emergency crews used pick axes, shovels and jackhammers to dig through twisted metal and concrete — and occasionally still pulled survivors out. But in some places, they switched the focus to demolishing unsteady buildings.
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While stories of miraculous rescues briefly buoyed spirits, the grim reality of the hardship facing tens of thousands who survived the disaster cast a pall. The number of deaths has surpassed the toll in a 2011 earthquake off Japan that triggered a tsunami, killing more than 18,400 people.
In northwest Syria, the first U.N. aid trucks to enter the rebel-controlled area from Turkey since the quake arrived — underscoring the difficulty of getting help to people in the country riven by civil war. In the Turkish city of Antakya, meanwhile, dozens of people scrambled for aid in front of a truck distributing children’s coats and other supplies.
One survivor, Ahmet Tokgoz, called for the government to evacuate people from the devastated region. While many of the tens of thousands who have lost their homes have found shelter in tents, stadiums and other temporary accommodation, others have spent the nights outdoors.
A man pleads to a rescue worker to save his brother in Hatay, Turkey, on Feb. 8, 2023.AFP via Getty ImagesA view of a destroyed Catholic Church after the earthquake in Iskenderun Turkey is shown on Feb. 9, 2023.AP
A mother from Syria mourns for the loss of her daughter, who was an earthquake victim, in Reyhanli, Turkey on Feb. 9, 2023.AP
“Especially in this cold, it is not possible to live here,” he said. “If people haven’t died from being stuck under the rubble, they’ll die from the cold.”
Winter weather and damage to roads and airports have hampered the response in both Turkey and Syria, where a civil war that displaced millions has further complicated efforts. Some in Turkey have complained the response was too slow — a perception that could hurt President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a time when he faces a tough battle for reelection in May.
A man looks on as residents and rescue personnel search for victims and survivors through the rubble of collapsed buildings in Adiyaman, Turkey on Feb. 8, 2023.AFP via Getty Images
In the Turkish town of Elbistan, rescuers stood atop a high stack of rubble from a collapsed home and fished out an elderly woman who had been submerged.
Teams urged quiet in the hopes of hearing stifled pleas for help, and the Syrian paramedic group in the rebel-held northwest known as White Helmets noted that “every second could mean saving a life.”
But more and more often, the teams pulled out dead bodies from under the rubble. In Turkey’s Antakya, over 100 bodies, covered by blankets and awaiting identification, lay in a makeshift morgue outside a hospital and in refrigerated trucks.
Residents and rescue personnel search for victims and survivors through the rubble of collapsed buildings in Adiyaman, Turkey on Feb. 8, 2023.AFP via Getty Images
With the chances of finding people alive in the rubble dwindling, teams in some places began demolishing buildings. In others, they simply had to move on.
In Adiyaman, Associated Press journalists saw a local resident plead with rescuers to come and sift through the rubble of a building where relatives were trapped. The crew refused, saying there was no one alive there, and they had to prioritize areas where there may be survivors.
A man, who gave only his name as Ahmet out of fear of government retribution, later asked the AP: “How can I go home and sleep? My brother is there. He may still be alive.”
Rescue workers carry the body of a victim out of a damaged building in Kirikhan, Turkey on Feb. 9, 2023.REUTERS
In Nurdagi, throngs of onlookers — mostly family members of people trapped inside — watched as heavy machines ripped at one building that had collapsed, its six floors pancaked together.
Mehmet Yilmaz watched from a distance, estimating that around 80 people were still beneath the rubble — but that it was unlikely any would be recovered alive.
“There’s no hope,” said Yilmaz, 67, who had six relatives, including a 3-month-old baby, trapped inside. “We can’t give up our hope in God, but they entered the building with listening devices and dogs and there was nothing.”
Authorities called off search-and-rescue operations on Thursday in the cities of Kilis and Sanliurfa, where destruction was not as severe as in other impacted regions.