Rescue workers were still clearing debris Friday, nearly 100 hours after a powerful earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, killing at least 21,000 people in one of the region’s worst disasters in a century.
According to the report of the news agency “AFP”, the first shipment of aid from the United Nations reached the rebel-held areas in Syria on Thursday, but after three days, the chances of finding survivors have disappeared. What experts consider a critical time to save lives.
Bitter cold has hampered search efforts in both countries, but 16-year-old Melda Atas was found alive in the southern Turkish city of Antakya 80 hours after the disaster.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the region on Monday while people were sleeping peacefully.
Aid officials, including World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffith, plan to visit the affected region.
Marjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said she had arrived in Aleppo, where communities that have faced years of intense fighting are now suffering the brunt of the earthquake, as the tragedy unfolded, highlighting the plight of the people. Attention should be paid.
Very cold weather
Temperatures in the Turkish city of Gazi Antip, near the epicenter, dropped to minus three degrees Celsius (26 degrees Fahrenheit) on Friday morning.
Despite the cold, thousands of families had to spend the night in cars and makeshift tents, with many afraid or barred from returning to their homes.
Parents walked the streets of the city with their children in blankets because it was warmer than sitting in a tent.
Gyms, mosques, schools and some stores were open at night, but there is a shortage of beds and thousands of people spend the night in their cars to get warm.
Monday’s earthquake was the biggest to hit Turkey since 1939, when 33,000 people died in the eastern province of Erzincan.
Monday’s earthquake killed 17,674 people in Turkey and 3,377 in Syria, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths to 21,051, officials and medical experts said, while experts fear the toll could rise rapidly. Will continue to happen.
Aid pledges
Meanwhile, dozens of countries, including China and America, have promised to help the earthquake victims.
The World Bank said it would provide $1.78 billion in aid to Turkey to help with relief and recovery efforts.
Two existing projects in Turkey will offer $780 million in immediate aid, the bank said, while an additional $1 billion in measures is being prepared to help those affected.
On the other hand, Fitch Ratings said that apart from the number of human deaths, the economic cost of the earthquake may exceed $2 billion and reach $4 billion or more.
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2024-09-02 05:48:16
