More than 45,000 people have died in the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, and the death toll is expected to skyrocket, with some 264,000 apartments destroyed in Turkey and many missing as rescue teams search for signs of life under the rubble.
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Twelve days following the quake, Kyrgyz workers tried to save a Syrian family of five from the rubble of a building in the southern Turkish city of Antioch. Three people, including a child, were rescued alive.
The mother and father survived, but the boy later died of dehydration, the rescue team said. Two other girls died. Ten ambulances were waiting on a nearby street that was closed to traffic to allow for rescue efforts.
The workers called for absolute silence and for everyone to crouch or sit while the teams continued to climb to the top of the rubble of the building where the family was located to listen for any further sounds through an electronic detector.
Turkey’s death toll stands at 39,672 from the quake, the country’s worst modern catastrophe, while neighboring Syria has reported more than 5,800 deaths. The number of deaths in Syria has not changed for days.
While many international rescue teams have left the vast quake zone, national teams were still searching among the flattened buildings on Saturday in the hope of finding more survivors.
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Hakan Yasinoglu, in his 40s, was rescued in the southern province of Hatay 278 hours following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the area on February 6, the Istanbul Fire Brigade reported. Earlier, Osman Halebiye, 14, and Mustafa Avci, 34, were saved in the historic Turkish city of Antioquia.
Aid organizations say the survivors will need help for months as much essential infrastructure has been destroyed.
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In Syria, already torn apart by more than a decade of civil war, most of the deaths have been in the northwest, an area controlled by insurgents who are at war with President Bashar al-Assad, in a conflict that has complicated efforts to help people affected by the earthquake.
Thousands of Syrians who had taken refuge in Turkey from their country’s civil war have returned to their homes in the war zone, at least for now.
Neither Turkey nor Syria have said how many people are still missing following the quake.
Families still waiting to get their relatives back in Turkey are increasingly angry over what they see as corrupt construction practices and poor development that has caused thousands of homes and businesses to disintegrate.
One of those buildings was the Ronesans Rezidans, which collapsed in Antioquia and left hundreds dead. “It was said to be earthquake-proof, but you can see the result,” said Hamza Alpaslan, 47, whose brother had lived in the apartment block. “It is in horrible conditions. It has neither cement nor iron in good conditions. It is a real hell.”
Turkey has vowed to investigate anyone suspected of being responsible for the collapse of the buildings and has ordered the arrest of more than 100 people, including property developers.
NA / MCP
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