Turkey, Syria earthquake: Rescuers race to find survivors as death toll mounts
Hundreds of families are still buried beneath the rubble of thousands of buildings destroyed by the earthquake. According to Turkey’s disaster management organisation, more than 24,400 rescue personnel are presently on the ground looking for survivors
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A 7.8 magnitude earthquake and multiple aftershocks struck eastern Turkey and neighbouring Syria, with the discovery of more bodies raising the death toll to more than 5,000. AP
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The quake, which was centred in Turkey’s southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, sent residents of Damascus and Beirut rushing into the street and tremors were felt as far away as Egypt’s Cairo. AFP
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Rescuers in Turkey and war-ravaged Syria searched through the frigid night into Tuesday, hoping to pull more survivors from the rubble of thousands of buildings brought down by the earthquake. AP
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Authorities feared the death toll from Monday’s pre-dawn earthquake and aftershocks would keep climbing as rescuers looked for survivors among tangles of metal and concrete spread across the region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war and refugee crisis. AP
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Survivors cried out for help from within mountains of debris as first responders contended with rain and snow. Workers carefully pulled away slabs of concrete and reached for bodies as desperate families waited for news of loved ones. AP
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Tens of thousands who were left homeless in Turkey and Syria faced a night in the cold. In the Turkish city of Gaziantep, a provincial capital about 33 kilometres (20 miles) from the epicentre, people took refuge in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centres. AP
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Hundreds of families remained trapped in the rubble, the opposition emergency organization known as the White Helmets said in a statement. The area is packed with some four million people displaced from other parts of the country by the war. Many live in buildings that are already wrecked from military bombardments. AP
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More than 7,800 people were rescued across 10 provinces, according to Orhan Tatar, an official with Turkey’s disaster management authority. AP
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Thousands of buildings were reported collapsed in a wide area extending from Syria’s cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey’s Diyarbakir, more than 330 kilometres (200 miles) to the northeast. AP
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In Turkey alone, more than 5,600 buildings were destroyed, authorities said. Hospitals were damaged, and one collapsed in the city of Iskenderun. AP
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Strained medical centres quickly filled with injured people, rescue workers said. Some facilities had to be emptied, including a maternity hospital, according to the SAMS medical organization. AP
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Attempts to reach survivors were also impeded by temperatures below freezing and close to 200 aftershocks, which made the search through unstable structures perilous. AP
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Countries around the world dispatched teams to assist in the rescue efforts, and Turkey’s disaster management agency said more than 24,400 emergency personnel were now on the ground. AP
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Structural engineers, soldiers, paramedics and handlers with trained search dogs from other countries are heading to Turkey and Syria to help locate and rescue survivors of Monday’s earthquake. AFP
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