- Death toll climbs to more than 8,700
- Rescue workers in Syria say toll there will rise significantly
- In Turkey, many say relief efforts too slow
Number of people killed in Turkey and Syria expected to keep rising as anger grows in Turkey over slow response from authorities.
Turkey has revised up the death toll again from the earthquake, with authorities now saying that 6,957 people have been killed there. With the 2,470 deaths in Syria included, the total number killed by Monday’s quake now stands at 9,427.
In the UK, the newly appointed chair of the ruling Conservative party said the country would be ready to respond to any further requests from Turkey for support.
Greg Hands defended the UK’s commitment to foreign aid spending which the Government slashed from 0.7% to 0.5% in 2021.
He told viewers of Sky News in the UK: “We stand ready to provide more assistance should further requests come through.”
Asked about financial aid to the region, he said: “We already provide, of course, a lot to the region. We’re one of the biggest bilateral donors, and particularly to Syria.
“I think that will be something that would have to be looked at in the round as and when requests come in for that assistance.”
AIHS2023
“The UK, of course, shapes up very favourably when it comes to our aid budget overall,” he said. “And obviously we have the commitment to restore the aid budget as soon as we’re able, the fiscal position here in the UK allows us. There’s been no reduction to aid to the region. We remain one of the biggest bilateral donors in particular to Syria. The awful situation has been going on there obviously in advance of the earthquake.”
Here is a summary from Associated Press of some of the international aid efforts that are being sent to Turkey and Syria.
- The European Union has mobilized search and rescue teams to help Turkey, while the bloc’s Copernicus satellite system has been activated to provide emergency mapping services. At least 19 member countries have offered assistance.
- The US is coordinating immediate assistance to Turkey, including teams to support search and rescue efforts. In California, nearly 100 Los Angeles County firefighters and structural engineers, along with six specially trained dogs, were being sent to Turkey.
- Russia as sent rescue team to Syria, where Russian military deployed in that country already had sent ten units comprising 300 people to help clear debris and search for survivors. The Russian military has set up points to distribute humanitarian assistance. Russia also has offered help to Turkey, which has been accepted.
- Israel’s army is sending a search and rescue team of 150 engineers, medical personnel and other aid workers to render lifesaving aid in Turkey. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has also approved a request for humanitarian aid for Syria, although it remains unclear who made the request and how it would be delivered. Syria and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations.
- A team of 82 rescuers sent by China has arrived in Adana, Turkey. They include specialists in search and rescue as well as medical treatment, and they brought in 21 tons of rescue equipment and supplies.
Greece, Lebanon, Germany, South Korea, Algeria, Pakistan, Japan, the UK and Australia are among many other countries to send or promise assistance.
Nearly two days after the magnitude 7.8 quake struck south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria, killing more than 8,500 people, search teams from more than two dozen countries have joined the Turkish emergency personnel, and aid pledges have been pouring in.
Many survivors in Turkey have had to sleep in cars, outside or in government shelters.
“We don’t have a tent, we don’t have a heating stove, we don’t have anything. Our children are in bad shape. We are all getting wet under the rain and our kids are out in the cold,” Aysan Kurt, 27, told the AP. “We did not die from hunger or the earthquake, but we will die freezing from the cold.”
In Syria, aid efforts have been hampered by the ongoing war and the isolation of the rebel-held region along the border, which is surrounded by Russia-backed government forces. Syria itself is an international pariah under western sanctions linked to the war.
Rescue workers carry Yiğit Çakmak, an eight-year-old survivor, away from the rubble he has been rescued from. Photograph: Burak Kara/Getty Images© Provided by The Guardian
And when the rescuers finally came on Monday evening, they only worked for a few hours before breaking for the night, residents told AFP.
Despite the importance of every minute, no rescue team arrived at the scene in parts of the city of Gaziantep for the critical first 12 hours after the disaster, forcing victims’ relatives and local police to clear the ruins by hand, witnesses said.
“People revolted (on Tuesday) morning. The police had to intervene,” said Celal Deniz, 61, whose brother and nephews remain trapped.
In the miserable cold, Deniz and his relatives try to warm themselves around a fire they lit in the open air, not too far from the destroyed building.
“There isn’t anywhere that our rescuers cannot reach,” Turkey’s Red Crescent chief Kerem Kinik declared in a TV interview.
But Deniz disagreed.
“They don’t know what the people have gone through,” he said.
Source: The Guardian
