Turkey-Syria quake: Toll climbs to 24,000; 8.7 lakh in urgent need of food

The death toll in Monday’s (February 6) Turkey-Syria earthquakes has crossed 24,000, according to the latest updates. A freezing winter has added to the suffering for nearly 900,000 people estimated to be in urgent need of food.

Miraculous rescues have continued more than 100 hours after the first tremor of 7.8 magnitude tore apart roads and flattened hundreds of buildings as a winter storm raged over the region.

A pregnant woman named Zahide Kaya was pulled out of the rubble alive after 115 hours, in Nurdagi district of Gaziantep province, south-eastern Turkey, reported Turkish state news agency Anadolu.

Also read: Turkey earthquake: One Indian missing, 10 others stuck but safe, says MEA

Her six-year-old daughter named Kubra was rescued from the ruins an hour earlier. Zahide was injured and taken to hospital, but there was no immediate word on her unborn child.

Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay told reporters on Saturday (February 11) that 67 people had been rescued from the rubble in the past 24 hours.

Call for immediate ceasefire in Syria

However, tragedies far outnumbered such stories of hope. One of the single biggest tragedies involved 24 Cypriot children aged between 11 and 14. They were in Turkey for a volleyball tournament when the quake swallowed their hotel.

Ten of their bodies were repatriated to their homeland in northern Cyprus. Turkish media reported that at least 19 people in the group — including 15 adults — have been confirmed dead.

Turkey’s eastern city of Kahramanmaras — the epicentre of the first tremor — is in a remote region filled with people already displaced by war.

Watch: Will India, Pakistan, Afghanistan face quakes like Turkey? Researcher says they may

The United Nations has warned that at least 870,000 people were now in urgent need of hot meals across Turkey and Syria. In Syria alone, up to 5.3 million people may have been made homeless.

The United Nations (UN) rights chief has called for an immediate ceasefire in Syria so aid could reach all victims of the earthquake. The UN security council will possibly meet on Syria early next week.

Anger mounts in Turkey

The Turkish government has distributed millions of hot meals, tents, and blankets, but is still struggling to reach many people in need.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan conceded for the first time on Friday that his government was not able to reach and help the victims “as quickly as we had desired”.

Five days of grief and anguish have been slowly building into a rage at the poor quality of buildings, as well as the Turkish government’s response to the country’s most dire disaster in nearly a century.

Also read: Buildings collapsed like pancakes in Turkiye quake; an expert explains why

Officials in the country say 12,141 buildings were either destroyed or seriously damaged in the earthquake. Police on Friday detained a contractor trying to flee the country after his building collapsed in the catastrophic quake.

Millions homeless in severe cold

The earthquakes have left millions of people homeless in Turkey and Syria amid the severe winter. The tremor was the most powerful and deadliest since 33,000 people died in a 7.8-magnitude quake in 1939.

The UN World Food Programme has appealed for $77 million to provide food rations and hot meals for 874,000 people affected by the quake.

Also read: Why is Turkey prone to earthquakes? Last year saw 20,277 quakes

According to UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), some 5.37 million people will need shelter assistance in Syria alone. The UN has pledged a $25 million grant for people affected in Syria, in addition to a $25-million grant announced earlier this week for both Turkey and Syria.

India has sent some 841 cartons of medicines, protection safety tools, and diagnostics to Turkey and Syria under Operation Dost. Indian Army has set up a field hospital to provide assistance to the victims.

(With agency inputs)