More than 35,000 dead in Turkey due to an earthquake; 3,700 in Syria

ANTIOCH, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday that more than 35,000 people have died in Turkey as a result of earthquakes last week, making it the worst disaster of its kind since the founding of the country 100 years ago.

Although the death toll was almost certain to rise further, many of the tens of thousands of homeless survivors were still struggling to meet their basic needs, such as finding shelter from the freezing cold.

Confirmed deaths in Turkey have surpassed those recorded during the Great Erzincan earthquake of 1939, which killed an estimated 33,000 people.

Erdogan added that 105,505 people were injured by the February 6 earthquake centered on Kahramanmaras and its aftershocks. Nearly 3,700 deaths have been confirmed in neighboring Syria, bringing the total death toll in the two countries to more than 39,000.

The Turkish president, who called the quake “the disaster of the century”, said more than 13,000 people were still receiving medical treatment in hospitals.

After a five-hour cabinet meeting at the headquarters of the disaster relief agency AFAD, Erdogan reported that 47,000 buildings, containing 211,000 homes, had been destroyed or damaged enough to require demolition.

“We will continue our work until we get the last citizen out of the destroyed buildings,” Erdogan said in Ankara of the rescue efforts.

Meanwhile, aid agencies and governments have stepped up efforts to send aid to quake-hit areas of Syria and Turkey.

The situation was particularly dire in Syria, where 12 years of civil war have complicated aid efforts and spawned disputes over how to get aid into the country, let alone distribute it. Some people said they hadn’t received anything yet. In Turkey, meanwhile, families are cramming into train carriages.

The Syrian Ministry of Health announced a final tally of 1,414 dead and 1,357 injured in areas under government control.

On Tuesday, the United Nations appealed for $397 million to provide “vital and desperately needed assistance to nearly 5 million Syrians” over three months. The world body had announced the day before an agreement with Damascus to send UN aid via two other border crossing points from Turkey to rebel-held areas in northwestern Syria, but the needs remain huge.

Ahmed Ismail Suleiman prepared a blanket shelter in front of his damaged house in the town of Jinderis, one of the hardest hit communities in northwestern Syria. He feared moving his family to a house that might not be structurally sound, so 18 people slept rough in the makeshift tent.

“We’re sitting, but we can’t sleep lying here,” he said. “We are waiting for a suitable store.”

Mahmoud Haffar, city hall manager, said residents have been able to secure some 2,500 tents, but some 1,500 families remain homeless, as nighttime temperatures drop to minus 4 degrees Celsius (26 degrees Fahrenheit).

“We keep hearing the question of when help will arrive,” Haffar said.

Although tents are scarce, one woman said the town has a surplus of donated bread and water.

In the southwest, in the government-controlled region of Latakia, Raeefa Breemo said only those who had taken refuge in shelters appeared to be receiving help.

“We need to eat, we need to drink, we need to survive. Our jobs, our lives, everything has stopped,” Breemo said.

Offers of help, from rescue teams and medics to generators and food, have poured in from around the world, but the needs remain immense after the 7.8 magnitude quake and powerful aftershocks leveled or damaged dozens of thousands of buildings, destroyed roads and caused closure. airports for some time. The earthquake affected 10 Turkish provinces in which some 13.5 million people live, as well as a large area of ​​northwestern Syria in which millions of people live.

Much of the quake-hit region’s water supply system was not functioning and Turkey’s health minister said samples taken from dozens of points in the system indicated the water was unsafe to drink .

In the Turkish port city of Alexandretta, displaced families have been sheltering in train cars since last week.

Although many have left in recent days for nearby camps or other parts of Turkey, dozens were still living on trains on Tuesday.

“The wagons have become our home,” Nida Karahan, 50, told Agence Andalou.

A first-aid plane sent by Saudi Arabia, carrying 35 tons of food, landed in the Syrian government-controlled city of Aleppo on Tuesday, but aid delivery to the government-held region of Idlib rebels was particularly difficult.

Until Monday’s agreement between the UN and the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, the world body had only been able to deliver aid to the region through one border crossing with Turkey, or through the government territory.

The newly opened Bab al-Salam and Al Raée border crossing points will operate for an initial period of three months. Russia has opposed suggestions that the opening of the passes could be made permanent, and its foreign ministry has accused Western countries of trying to deliver aid “exclusively” to areas not controlled by the Russians. Syrian government.

Major aid organizations welcomed the news but warned logistical problems remained, even as the first UN aid convoy of 11 trucks entered northwestern Syria via Bab al-Salam on Tuesday. .

“This is a constant back and forth in the negotiations,” World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier said. “All parties must agree to receive convoys.”

The death toll in both countries is almost certain to rise as search teams uncover more bodies and the chances of finding more survivors dwindle.

However, more than 200 hours after the quake, Professor Emine Akgul was taken from a building in Antioch by a mine search and rescue team, Turkish news agency Anadolu reported.

In Adiyaman province, rescuers reached 18-year-old Muhammed Cafer Cetin. Doctors put him through an IV line with fluid before attempting the dangerous extraction from a building that kept collapsing while rescuers worked. The paramedics fitted him with a neck brace before taking him on a stretcher with an oxygen mask, according to images from Turkish television.

Many in Turkey attributed the scale of the disaster to poor construction, and authorities continued to search for contractors believed to be linked to the buildings that collapsed. Turkey has introduced building regulations that meet earthquake engineering standards, but experts said these protocols are often not followed.

Erdogan announced on Tuesday that the government plans to start building some 30,000 homes in March.

“Our goal is to complete the construction of high-quality and safe buildings within a year to cover housing needs throughout the earthquake-affected area,” he said.

In a temporary shelter set up at a sports center in Afrin, northwestern Syria, 190 families slept on the floor of the basketball court, lying on mats usually used for training. Families tried to get some privacy by placing blankets on pillars or sports bars.

Sabah el Khodr said she and her two young children had been sick for nine days. The children were wrapped in blankets and slept on the floor in the yard.

Local officials said the shelter is temporary until new tents are found.

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Bilginsoy and Wilks reported from Istanbul. Armangue from Antioch, Turkey. Associated Press writers Abby Sewell and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Edith M. Lederer in New York contributed to this report.