Save more living victims of the earthquake in Turkey

ANTIOCH, Turkey (AP) — Rescuers worked Tuesday to reach people trapped under rubble in three provinces affected by the devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria last week.

The death toll from the 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes, which struck nine hours apart on February 6 in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, topped 35,000 and is expected to increase further as the search for victims progresses.

Turkish TV continued to broadcast rescue footage on Tuesday, with experts saying the window for searching for survivors was closing.

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. Several doctors surrounded him to put a neck brace on him and put him on a stretcher with an oxygen mask before delivering him at the 199th hour. “We are very happy,” said his uncle.

Two other people were rescued from a destroyed building in the center of Kahramanmaras near the epicenter on Tuesday, some 198 hours after the first quake. The Haberturk Channel identified one of the survivors as 17-year-old Muhammed Enes, who appeared in the footage wrapped in a thermal blanket and carried on a stretcher to an ambulance. Dozens of rescuers were working at the scene and Turkish soldiers cheered and hugged as the two were pulled out.

Then the rescuers called for silence to continue looking for people and shouted “can anyone hear me?”

The condition of those rescued was unclear.

In defeated Hatay, Snegul Abalioglu lost his sister and four nephews. “It doesn’t matter if they’re alive or dead, we just want our bodies so they have at least a grave and we can bury them,” she told The Associated Press, waiting devastated in front of the mountain. of rubble where his family might be.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has agreed to open two new border crossing points with Turkey in the rebel-held northwest region to send emergency aid and supplies to millions of earthquake victims, the United Nations announced on Monday. The Bab Al-Salam and Al Raée border crossing points will initially be open for three months.

Until now, the UN could only deliver aid to the Idlib region through one crossing at Bab Al-Hawa.

Since last week’s earthquake, the United Nations has been under intense pressure to deliver more aid and heavy equipment to rebel territory in northwest Syria. Survivors have no way of digging for people who might still be alive as the death toll mounts.

A first Saudi plane carrying 35 tonnes of food landed at the government-controlled airport in Aleppo on Tuesday morning, according to Syrian state media. Saudi Arabia has raised some $50 million as part of a public campaign to help Turkey and Syria. Before Tuesday, Saudi planes landed in Turkey and Saudi trucks delivered aid to impoverished, rebel-held northwest Syria.

Other Arab countries, such as Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, have sent aid planes to the Syrian area held by the government. Algeria, Iraq, Oman, Tunisia, Sudan and Libya have also sent aid to Damascus.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said late Monday that rescue efforts were continuing in Hatay province, Kahramanmaras – the epicenter – and Adiyaman. Bailouts appear to have ended in the other seven provinces.

The quake affected 10 Turkish provinces with some 13.5 million inhabitants and a large area of ​​northwestern Syria where millions of people live.

Quake survivors also faced harsh conditions in the devastated towns. Many slept outside in the middle of winter. Much of the area’s water supply system was not working and damage to the system posed risks of contamination. Turkey’s health minister said samples taken from dozens of network points were “microbiologically unsuitable”, reflecting the precariousness of the situation.

More than 41,500 buildings have been destroyed or so damaged that they should be demolished, said the Minister of Environment and Urban Planning. There were bodies under these buildings and the number of missing remained uncertain.

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

Turkey’s death toll stood at 31,643 on Monday. Authorities have reduced the frequency of data updates since the first week, and now review the account once or twice a day.

The death toll in the rebel-held region in northwestern Syria has reached 2,166, according to the White Helmets relief group, while 1,414 people have died in government-held areas, according to the Syrian Ministry of Health in Damascus. The total figure in Syria was 3,580 reported deaths.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was due to meet his government on Tuesday.

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Bilginsoy reported from Istanbul. Kareem Chehayeb contributed from Beirut and Edith M. Lederer contributed from New York.