More than 43,000 dead due to an earthquake in Turkey and Syria

KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey (AP) — Rescuers have pulled more survivors from the rubble left by the Feb. 6 earthquake that ravaged parts of Turkey and Syria, even as the chances of finding people alive are rapidly dwindling.

These are Friday’s main events related to the earthquake.

THE DEATH COUNT IS RISING

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu updated the country’s death toll to 39,672, bringing the total death toll in Turkey and Syria to 43,360.

The number is likely to continue to rise as rescuers recover more bodies from the devastation.

The powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake has become the deadliest disaster in Turkey’s modern history.

MORE SURVIVORS SAVED

Rescuers pulled a survivor from the rubble of a building in Hatay province’s Defne district on Friday, more than 11 days after the powerful quake.

Hakan Yasinoğlu, 45, spent 278 hours in the rubble, according to Turkish news agency Anadolu. Television footage showed him being carried on a stretcher to an ambulance.

Search teams working overnight also found a woman and two men alive in the rubble of the quake.

The most recent rescues came as crews began clearing rubble in quake-ravaged towns.

Neslihan Kilic, 29, a mother of two, was pulled from the rubble of a building in Kahramanmaras after being trapped for 258 hours, the private DHA news agency reported Thursday evening.

In the city of Antioquia, police rescue teams found 12-year-old Osmán alive after removing 17 bodies from a destroyed building.

“Just when we had no more hope, we caught up with our brother Osman at 260 hours,” team leader Okan Tosun told DHA.

An hour later, rescuers reached two men trapped in a collapsed hospital in Antioquia.

One of them, Mustafa Avci, used a paramedic’s mobile phone to call his brother and inquire about his relatives.

“Did they all survive? “, he asks. “Let me hear their voices.”

UN AID ARRIVES IN SYRIA

A total of 178 trucks carrying aid have crossed the border between Turkey and northwestern Syria since February 9, the UN said.

Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the trucks were carrying items from six UN agencies, including tents, mattresses, blankets, winter clothes, Cholera test kits, essential drugs and World Food Program food.

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the latest assessments in northwestern Syria show that 50,000 families need tents or emergency shelter, and at least 88,000 have need mattresses, thermal blankets and clothing. In addition, according to UN partners, hospitals and medical centers “are overwhelmed and lack resources”, he added.

The FAO said it was working with Turkey to determine what needs to be done to restore infrastructure in the agricultural sector damaged by the earthquake, including irrigation systems, roads, markets and storage capacity. .

“In Syria, rapid assessments conducted by FAO in earthquake-affected areas indicate a significant impact on agricultural and livestock production capacity, which threatens immediate and long-term food security,” the agency said. in a press release.

THE RETURN OF THE SYRIANS

The bodies of at least 1,522 Syrians who lived in Turkey have returned to Syria for burial, according to an official at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that if figures from other smaller crossings are taken into account, the number of earthquake dead who returned to Syria for to be buried amounts to 1,745 people.

Syrian survivors have also started crossing from Turkey. Some 1,795 Syrians crossed from Turkey to Syria on Wednesday, the first day after Turkey allowed quake-affected Syrian refugees to temporarily return to their country without losing their protected status in Turkey, a post official said. border of Bab al-Hawa.

The decision gives Turkish holders of a temporary protection card residing in earthquake-affected areas the possibility of entering Syria without having to obtain a travel permit from the Turkish authorities.

Syrians with protected status who enter Syria without permission are normally considered by Turkey to have renounced their status as asylum seekers and are banned from returning to Turkey for five years.

SPAIN WILL RECEIVE 100 SYRIANS

Spain says it will take in around 100 Syrian refugees who are in Turkey. Migration Minister José Luis Escrivá said the refugees would be those considered the most vulnerable and severely affected by the earthquake.

MORE THAN 1,500 CHILDREN SEPARATED FROM THEIR FAMILIES

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said the state was caring for 1,589 children who were separated from their families during the quake, including 247 who have not yet been identified.

He said 953 children had been reunited with their families.

Oktay noted that search and rescue teams were working in less than 200 locations, with Hatay province having the highest number.

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Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Frances D’Emilio in Rome, Ciaran Giles in Madrid and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.