The number of people confirmed dead from a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked Syria and Turkey rose to more than 5,000 on Tuesday, as more bodies were recovered from the rubble of destroyed buildings.
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said the total number of deaths in Turkey had risen to 3,419, with another 20,534 injured. This brought the number of people killed to 5,102, with another 1,602 people confirmed dead on the Syrian side of the border.
Officials feared the death toll from Monday morning’s earthquake and aftershocks would continue to rise as rescuers searched the rubble for survivors.
Survivors screamed for help from under piles of debris as first responders grappled with rain and snow. The region continued to cope with seismic activity, including an aftershock nearly as powerful as the initial quake. Rescuers tore up concrete slabs in search of the bodies as families waited for news of their loved ones.
7.8-magnitude EARTHQUAKE: OVER 2,300 DEATHS IN TURKEY AND SYRIA
Emergency crews search through the rubble for people in a destroyed building in Adana, Turkey on Monday, February 6, 2023.
Tens of thousands of people in Turkey and Syria suffered a night in the cold after the earthquake left them homeless. In the Turkish city of Gaziantep, the provincial capital located about 20 miles from the epicenter, people have taken refuge in shopping centres, stadiums, mosques and community centres.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared seven days of national mourning after the earthquake. President Biden called Erdogan to express his condolences and offer assistance. The White House said it was sending search and rescue teams to help Turkey.
The quake hit the southeastern Turkish province of Kahramanmaras and forced residents of Damascus and Beirut to take to the streets. The quake was felt as far away as Cairo.
In Syria, the area is divided between government-controlled territory and the country’s last enclave controlled by the opposition during the country’s civil war. Hundreds of families in the rebel-held enclave were trapped in the rubble, according to a statement by the opposition emergency organization called the White Helmets.
People injured in the quake quickly filled medical centers in the region, rescuers said. Some facilities, including a maternity hospital, have had to be emptied, according to medical organization SAMS.
Orhan Tatar, an official with Turkey’s disaster management authority, said more than 7,800 people had been rescued in 10 provinces.
The US Geological Survey said Monday’s quake had a magnitude of 7.8, with a depth of 11 miles. Hours later, a 7.5-magnitude quake, likely triggered by the first, struck more than 60 miles away.
Thousands of buildings have reportedly collapsed in an area stretching from the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Hama to Diyarbakir in Turkey, more than 200 miles to the northeast.
Syrian civil defense workers and security forces search through the rubble of collapsed buildings, in Aleppo, Syria on Monday, February 6, 2023.
More than 5,600 buildings, including hospitals, have been destroyed in Turkey alone, authorities said.
Cold temperatures could reduce the amount of time rescuers have to rescue trapped survivors, said Steven Godby, natural hazards expert at Nottingham Trent University, adding area rescue could prove even more complicated in war-affected areas. Syrian civilian.
Dozens of countries, the European Union and NATO have offered search and rescue teams, medical supplies and money to support the earthquake-stricken region. The vast majority of support has been offered to Turkey, but Russia and even Israel have offered to help the Syrian government, although it was unclear whether anyone would go to the rebel-held area in the northwest.
The opposition Syrian Civil Defense said the situation in the enclave was “disastrous”.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said 224 buildings in northwestern Syria were destroyed and at least 325 were damaged.
7.8 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE HIT TURKEY MIDDLE EAST
People and emergency crews search through the rubble at a destroyed building in Gaziantep, Turkey on Monday, February 6, 2023.
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In the small Syrian rebel-controlled town of Azmarin, located in the mountains near the Turkish border, the bodies of several dead children wrapped in blankets were taken to a hospital.
About 20 people in Adana, some wearing emergency life jackets, used power saws on top of the concrete pile of a collapsed building to open space for any survivors to get out or be rescued.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
