Over 23,000 dead after Turkey and Syria quake amid global aid effort

German Press Agency

ISTANBUL – The death toll from an earthquake that devastated wide swathes of the Turkey-Syria border region reached over 23,000 by Friday, as a search for survivors continued despite dwindling hope.

Some 19,875 people had died in Turkey alone, according to the AFAD on Friday evening, while 79,717 were wounded.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan requested a global aid effort to rebuild areas that have been destroyed, in comments in the southern city of Adıyaman.

He acknowledged, amid criticism from opposition figures, that there had been “certain setbacks” in the government’s response to the deadly quakes.

Rescuers in Syria have sharply criticized the lack of aid to certain areas, in a country where the death toll stands at 3,384.

Some 5.4 million may have been left homeless, according to a United Nations estimate.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife, Asma, visited Aleppo city, in the first trip to an area affected by the devastating earthquake this week.

The presidency released photos of the two visiting injured people at Aleppo university hospital.

The numbers of rescues are falling although some survivors are still being found, such as the family of six in southern Turkey who were pulled from the rubble after 102 hours, Anadolu state news agency reported.

As for the rescue effort, 141,000 Turkish and foreign rescue workers were on site, Erdoğan said, more than 7,000 of them from 61 countries. A total of 97 countries have sent aid to Turkey as well, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

Meanwhile, more than 76,000 people have been evacuated from the earthquake area.

U.S. President Joe Biden tweeted on Friday that the United States would provide $85 million in urgently needed aid.

This would include “food and shelter, supplies to help families brave the cold, and medicine to help save lives,” he wrote.

A British appeal to help the victims in Turkey and Syria raised more than $36 million in just 24 hours, according to the Press Association.

The Italian government sent a equipment and supplies for a field hospital, medical supplies and vehicles, tents and cots for about 1,000 people, the government said in a statement.

The first quake hit early on Monday morning with a 7.7-magnitude. This was followed at about midday by another quake with a 7.6-magnitude.

According to Turkish authorities, there have been more than 1,000 aftershocks since then.

Despite the freezing temperatures, some survivors were still being found on Friday, often after many hours of searching.

Turkish public broadcaster TRT showed footage of rescuers pulling a 45-year-old male alive from the rubble in southern Kahramanmaraş province 107 hours after the quake.

In Syria, some 3,000 White Helmets volunteers are searching for survivors.

The group on Friday criticized the United Nations for inadequate humanitarian aid in the earthquake-destroyed northwestern region.

Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that a shipment of aid arrived on Thursday, but said tents for shelter and equipment to remove the rubble “are still lacking.”

A second convoy crossed the Turkish-Syrian border on Friday, according to dpa sources.

Mustafa Dahnon, an activist from Idlib who was at the border crossing, told dpa that the trucks were mainly carrying blankets and carpets to keep people warm.

“We need tents. If we have blankets and carpets and we do not have tents. Where will people sleep?” he wondered.