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Hopes for rescue fade, more than 30,000 dead from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria

2023-02-12 15:57:01Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Hopes for rescue fade, more than 30,000 dead from the earthquake in Turkey and

The death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquake has risen to over 30,000 as hopes for rescue dwindle

Unrest in southern Turkey has disrupted rescue efforts in several places after Monday's deadly earthquake, three rescue groups said.

The death toll in Turkey and Syria from the earthquake has exceeded 28,000 and hope of finding many survivors is fading despite some miraculous rescues.

German rescuers and the Austrian military suspended search operations on Saturday, citing clashes between unidentified groups.

Security is expected to worsen as food supplies dwindle, a rescue team member said. Turkey's president said he would use emergency powers to punish anyone who breaks the law.

An Austrian military spokesman said early Saturday that clashes between unidentified groups in Hatay province had prompted dozens of people from the Austrian Armed Forces' Disaster Relief Unit to seek shelter at a base camp with other international organizations.

"There is increasing aggression between factions in Turkey," Lt. Col. Pierre Kugelweis said in a statement. "The chances of saving a life bear no reasonable relation to the safety risk."

Hours after Austria suspended its rescue efforts, the country's defense ministry said the Turkish military had stepped in to provide protection, allowing rescue operations to resume.

The German branch of the ISAR search and rescue group and Germany's Federal Agency for Technical Assistance (TSW) also suspended operations, citing safety concerns.

"There are more and more reports of clashes between different factions, shots have also been heard," ISAR spokesman Stefan Heine said.

Steven Bayer, Isar's operations manager, said he expected security to worsen as food, water and hope become scarcer.

"We are watching the security situation closely as it develops," he said.

German rescue teams said they would resume work as soon as Turkish authorities deemed the situation safe, Reuters news agency reported.

Turkey's Vice President Fuat Oktay announced on Saturday that the death toll in Turkey had risen to 24,617.

While Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has not commented on the reported unrest in Hatay, he reiterated on Saturday that the government will take action against those involved in crimes in the region.

" We have declared a state of emergency ," Erdogan said during a visit to the disaster area today. "It means that from now on people who are involved in robberies or kidnappings should know that the strong hand of the state is on their backs.

State media reported on Saturday that 48 people had been arrested for robbery, according to AFP. Turkish state media reported that several weapons were seized, along with cash, jewelry and bank cards.

A 26-year-old man searching for a co-worker in a collapsed building in Antakya told Reuters: "People were breaking windows and fences of shops and cars."

Turkish police are also reported to have arrested 12 people over the collapsed buildings in Gaziantep and Sanliurfa provinces. They included contractors, according to the DHA news agency.

More arrests are also expected after Mr. Oktay told reporters late Saturday that prosecutors had issued 113 arrest warrants on the buildings.

At least 6,000 buildings collapsed in Turkey, raising questions about whether the large-scale tragedy could have been avoided and whether President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government could have done more to save lives.

With elections looming, the president's future is at stake after 20 years in power and his pleas for national unity ignored.

Mr Erdogan has acknowledged shortcomings in the response, but he seems to blame luck on a visit to a disaster zone: “ Such things have always happened. It is part of the plan of fate ."

Miraculous rescues after 100 hours under rubble
Among those rescued on Saturday was a family of five pulled from the rubble in Turkey's Gaziantep province.

The AP news agency reported that the parents, two daughters and son were brought to safety after five days under their collapsed home, chanting "God is great."

The same media reported that a seven-year-old girl was pulled from the rubble in Hatay province after almost 132 hours under the rubble.

The BBC has also released footage of the extraordinary rescue of two sisters in Antakya, southern Turkey, on Wednesday.

The earthquake was described as "the worst event in 100 years in this region" by the United Nations aid chief, who was in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras on Saturday.

"I think it's the worst natural disaster I've ever seen and it's also the most extraordinary international response," Martin Griffiths told the BBC's Lyse Doucet in Turkey.

"We have more than a hundred countries that have sent people here, so there has been a tremendous response, but there is a need for it," he added.

Griffiths has called for regional politics to be put aside in the face of disaster, and there are some signs that this is happening.

The long-conflicted border crossing between Armenia and Turkey reopened on Saturday for the first time in 35 years to allow aid.

And there are reports that the Syrian government has agreed to allow UN aid into areas controlled by opposition groups, with whom they have been engaged in a bitter civil war since 2011.

The death toll in Syria from the earthquake now stands at more than 3,500, according to AFP, but new figures have not been released since Friday. There has been criticism that the international effort to send aid to Syria has not been fast enough.

Ismail al Abdullah of the Syrian Civil Defense Force, or White Helmets, which operates in rebel-held areas, told the BBC's Quentin Sommerville that the organization had stopped searching for survivors.

The international community has "blood on its hands", he said. "We needed rescue equipment that never came."

Sivanka Dhanapala, the Syrian representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told AlJazeera that 5.3 million Syrians could be homeless after the earthquake. " This is a large number and comes to a population that is already suffering mass displacement ," she said.


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