The tolls on both sides of the border continued to increase and, given the extent of the damage, they were to increase as the search progressed.
IThe race against time and the cold continues on Tuesday in Turkey and northern Syria to find survivors of a violent earthquake and its aftershocks that ravaged the region on Monday. According to the latest report, more than 4,300 people have died.
Nearly 20 hours after the first of three tremors, with a magnitude of 7.8 felt as far away as Lebanon, Cyprus and northern Iraq, 2,921 people have died in Turkey, according to the state disaster management body. disasters (AFAD), and more than 1,440 in Syria. The balance sheet is likely to increase.
Rescuers fought hard overnight from Monday to Tuesday in the cold, in the pouring rain or snow, sometimes with their bare hands, to save every life that could be, like this seven-year-old child who came out of the ruins in Hatay (south), on the Syrian border, under the eyes of AFP, after more than 20 hours of terror, the pajamas stained with dust.
The bad weather that hangs over Anatolia complicates the task of rescuers and makes the fate of survivors even more bitter, shivering in tents or around improvised homes.
International aid is organized
International aid to Turkey, however, should start arriving on Tuesday with the first teams of rescue workers from Switzerland. Eighteen rescuers from the Rescue Chain, search and rescue dogs and 18 tonnes of equipment flew from Zurich to Adana on Monday evening.
US President Joe Biden has promised his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan “all the necessary help, whatever it is”. Two American detachments of 79 rescue workers each were preparing to go there on Monday, according to the White House. According to the Turkish president, 45 countries have offered their help.
On the other hand, in Syria, the appeal launched by the authorities in Damascus was mainly heard by its Russian ally, promising rescue teams “in the next few hours”, while, according to the army, more than 300 Russian soldiers are already at the scene to assist in the rescue.
The UN also reacted, but insisted that the aid provided would go “to all Syrians throughout the territory”, part of which is not under government control. In these rebel-held areas, bordering Turkey in northwestern Syria, at least 700 dead have been counted.
The “big one”, this extraordinary earthquake that will soon affect Istanbul
Taking advantage of the chaos created by the earthquake, around 20 suspected Islamic State (IS) fighters escaped from a military prison in Rajo, controlled by pro-Turkish rebels.
The balance sheets keep getting heavier
The tolls on both sides of the border continued to increase and, given the extent of the damage, they were to increase as the search progressed.
In Turkey alone, the authorities have counted nearly five thousand collapsed buildings. And the drastic drop in temperatures puts the wounded, stuck in the ruins, at an additional risk of hypothermia.
The World Health Organization has said itself that it expects the worst and fears “tolls eight times higher than the initial numbers”.
During the day on Monday, no less than 185 aftershocks were recorded, following the first two tremors: one of 7.8, which occurred in the middle of the night (04:17 local time), the other, of magnitude 7.5, at the mid-day, both in southeastern Turkey.
Dormitories have been opened by local authorities in gymnasiums or colleges or even in mosques to accommodate survivors. But for fear of new earthquakes, many residents preferred to spend the night outside, as in Sanliurfa, in southeastern Turkey.
“Who isn’t afraid? Everyone is afraid, ”assured Mustafa Koyuncu, 55, crammed with his wife and five children in the family car.
This earthquake is the largest in Turkey since the earthquake of August 17, 1999, which caused the death of 17,000 people, including a thousand in Istanbul.
