As rescuers in Turkey and Syria continue to search for survivors after Monday’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake, hopes of finding more people alive amid the rubble three days after the disaster are starting to fade with 15,000 confirmed dead .
As of Thursday morning, at least 12,391 people have died from the earthquake and its aftershocks in Turkey. The country’s disaster management agency said more than 60,000 were injured and tens of thousands were displaced. More than 2,900 people have been reported dead on the Syrian side of the border.
Emergency crews working through the night in the city of Antakya were able to rescue a young girl trapped in the ruins of the building, IHA news agency reported via the Associated Press. Two hours later, they also rescued her father.
In Diyarbakir, a city about 300 miles east of Antakya, rescuers freed an injured woman from a collapsed building but found three more dead beside her, according to a report by Turkish news agency DHA.
TURKEY EARTHQUAKE DEVASTATION CAPTURED ON VIDEO
Rescue teams search for people in a destroyed building, in Adiyaman, southeastern Turkey, on Wednesday, February 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
As the days go by, the window of survival for those trapped under the destruction dwindles rapidly, but experts still insist it is too soon to give up hope entirely.
“The first 72 hours are considered critical,” said Steven Godby, a natural hazards expert at Nottingham Trent University in England. “The median survival rate within 24 hours is 74%, after 72 hours it is 22% and by day five it is 6%.”
Antakya resident Serap Arslan told the AP that many people, including his mother and brother, are still buried nearby under a collapsed building. Machinery arrived in the area to move some of the heavy concrete on Wednesday.
“We’ve tried to sort it out within our means, but unfortunately we’re not very adequately prepared for the job,” said the 45-year-old.
Selen Ekimen, another Antakya resident, told the AP that both her parents and brother are buried.
“There hasn’t been a sound from them for days,” she said as she wiped away her tears with gloved hands. “Nobody.”
People and rescue teams search for survivors in destroyed buildings in Elbistan, southern Turkey, on Wednesday, February 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Hatay province on Wednesday, a hard-hit area where residents criticized the alleged slowness of the government’s response.
Erdogan, who is running for re-election in May, acknowledged problems with the response to the catastrophic earthquake, but said wintry weather and the destruction of Hatay airport’s runway by the quake halted response.
“It is not possible to be prepared for such a disaster. We will not leave any of our citizens indifferent,” Erdogan said, adding that “dishonorable people” were spreading “lies and slander” about the government’s actions.
Erdogan also said the government would distribute 10,000 Turkish lira ($532) to affected families.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a survivor embrace as he visits the city center destroyed by Monday’s earthquake in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, on Wednesday, February 8, 2023. (Turkish Presidency via AP)
EARTHQUAKE IN TURKEY, SYRIA DEADLIEST FOR MORE THAN A DECADE
As of Thursday morning, the country’s disaster management agency reported that more than 110,000 relief personnel were participating in the monumental recovery efforts. It also said more than 5,500 vehicles were shipped, including tractors, cranes, bulldozers and excavators.
More than two dozen countries have sent teams to assist local emergency personnel, but the extent of the destruction has been so widespread that many people are still waiting for help.
According to the AP, aid efforts in Syria have been significantly impacted by the ongoing civil war and the isolation of the rebel-held region along the border, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. Syria itself is also an international pariah under war-related Western sanctions.
Rescue teams carry a victim from a destroyed building in Aleppo, Syria on Tuesday, February 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
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The number of deaths in Syria and Turkey is one of the highest in recent history, surpassing the 8,800 killed in Nepal in 2015 by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and the nearly 20,000 killed in Japan following a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in 2011 .
The region sits atop major fault lines and is frequently rocked by earthquakes. About 18,000 people were killed in similarly powerful earthquakes that hit northwestern Turkey in 1999.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
