Death toll after powerful earthquake that hits Turkey and Syria rises to over 24,000

Turkey and Syria continue to be devastated after the massive earthquake, which has so far left more than 24,000 dead and hundreds of thousands of people in need.

The cold in the region makes rescues difficult and redoubles the punishment on a desperate population. According to the UN, at least 870,000 people are in urgent need of food and, only in Syria, 5.3 million people they found themselves homeless.

“When I see the destroyed buildings, the corpses, it’s not that I don’t see where I’ll be in two or three years, it’s that I can’t imagine where I’ll be tomorrowshe said with tears in her eyes. Fidan Tourana pensioner from the Turkish city of Antakya.

“We lost 60 family members“, he explained. “Sixty! What can I say ? It is God’s will,” he added.

The World Food Program has requested $77 million provide food rations to at least 590,000 displaced people because of the earthquake in Turkey and 284,000 in Syria.

There United Nations Human Rights Office on Friday urged all parties in the affected area, where Kurdish militants and Syrian rebels operate, to allow humanitarian access.

He Kurdistan Workers’ Partyconsidered terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies,announced that he was suspending his armed struggle to contribute to the work of recovery.

And in Syria, the government has announced that it will allow the supply of international aid to rebel-held areas in the earthquake-hit northwest of the country.

so far only two humanitarian trucks they had crossed this week from Turkey into this rebel-held area where four million people live.

There HIM asked for a immediate ceasefire in the country and the opening of more crossing points for humanitarian aid, which currently can only pass through the border post of Bab al Hawa.

He security Council should meet to discuss the situation in Syria, possibly early next week.

Turkish diplomacy said it was working on opening two more crossing points “with the regions under the control of the ‘Syrian government’, for humanitarian reasons”.

For fear of returning home or because they have disappeared, thousands of people are sleeping in tents or in their cars and gather around bonfires to keep warm in the freezing temperatures.

Although rescue teams continued to pull people alive from the rubble, including several children and a six-month pregnant woman on Friday, balance sheets keep growing.

The latest counts for the Saturday morning stand at 24,218 people killedincluding 20,665 in Turkey and 3,553 in Syria.

After five days of the region’s deadliest earthquake since 1939, the initial shock in Turkey is giving way to rage and anger over the government’s response and the poor quality of construction.

The authorities believe 12,141 buildings destroyed or severely damaged.

“The floors are stacked on top of each othersaid the Istanbul University professor Bogazici, who attributes it to the poor quality of the concrete and steel columns.

Police arrested a property developer at Istanbul airport on Friday who was trying to flee the country after one of his luxury residences he had built collapsed.

In the face of criticism of government management, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sang a sort of mea culpa on Friday.

“There were so many damaged buildings that unfortunately we were unable to speed up our interventions as we would have liked.he said during a visit to Adiyaman.

Among the many earthquake tragedies, one involves a group of 24 Cypriot children aged 11 to 14 who were in Turkey for a volleyball tournament when the earthquake engulfed their hotel.

Turkish media say 19 people in the group, including 15 adults, have been confirmed dead. Ten of the bodies have already been repatriated to their homes in northern Cyprus.

(With information from AFP)

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