Topline
The death toll from the powerful earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria last week crossed 35,000 on Monday as rescue workers continued to pull survivors from the rubble of collapsed buildings, even as the window for miraculous rescues shrinks.
70-year-old Nuray Gurbuz is rescued from the rubble of a collapsed 3-storey- building 178 hours … [+]
Key Facts
According to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD,) the death toll from last week’s earthquake in the country stood at 31,643 on Monday morning.
In an update shared on Sunday, the Syrian government said 1,414 people have died in areas under the control of the Assad regime, while the rebel group White Helmets noted that the toll in the region under their control stood at 2,166.
On Monday, rescuers were able to rescue a 40-year-old woman from under a collapsed building in the Gaziantep province, just hours after a 62-year-old woman and a child were rescued in Hatay province.
Hailed as “miracle rescues” by the Turkish media, such incidents are becoming rarer and rarer as more people likely succumb to cold temperatures and lack water and food.
As rescue work continues in Turkey, adequate relief has failed to reach civil-war-hit Syria, especially in the rebel-held north-west region, raising fears that the actual death toll may be significantly higher than what has been recorded so far.
U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths visited the Turkish-Syrian border on Sunday and tweeted that international help hasn’t arrived in north-west Syria and people in the region “rightly feel abandoned.”
What We Don’t Know
Griffiths on Sunday said he expects the final toll will be “double or more” than the 28,000 that had been reported at the time. This means the final number could be near 60,000. This is nearly three times the estimate made by the WHO last week. The earthquake is already the world’s deadliest natural disaster since the 2010 Haiti Earthquake which killed more than 100,000 people.
Key Background
Last Monday, Turkey and Syria were hit by a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake followed by several powerful aftershocks which caused major destruction in both Turkey and northern Syria. The quake’s epicenter was located just 20 miles from the major Turkish city of Gaziantep, according to the United States Geological Survey. As of Sunday, nearly 25,000 buildings had collapsed due to the earthquake, a number believed to have been made worse by lax implementation of building safety standards. The Turkish government has arrested at least 131 suspects who were responsible for the construction of some of the collapsed buildings.
Further Reading
As more rescued, quake survivors in Turkey ask what’s next (Associated Press)
Turkey-Syria quake deaths to top 50,000: UN relief chief (AFP)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/02/13/turkey-syria-earthquake-rescue-teams-find-more-survivors-as-more-than-35000-have-died/