The official global casualty count is over 15,000 dead, with nearly 50,000 injured in Turkey and 5,000 in Syria.
Ihe toll of the earthquake which struck Turkey and Syria continues to grow and exceeded 15,000 dead on Thursday, the chances of survival dwindling two days after the disaster, and the rise of criticism in Turkey has forced the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to acknowledge shortcomings in government response.
Twitter has become inaccessible on Turkey’s main mobile phone providers amid mounting online criticism of the authorities’ handling of the tragedy.
On the ground, rescuers have been working in freezing cold for two days after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that shook southeast Turkey and neighboring northern Syria at dawn on Monday, followed by powerful aftershocks. Bad weather complicates the task of rescue while the first 72 hours are crucial to find survivors, according to the head of the Turkish Red Crescent, Kerem Kinik.
In the Turkish province of Hatay (south), hard hit by the earthquake, children and adolescents have been removed from the rubble of a building. “Suddenly we heard voices and thanks to the excavator (…) we could immediately hear three people at the same time”, tells AFP one of the rescuers, Alperen Cetinkayanous.
In this province, the city of Antakya (ancient Antioch) is in ruins, drowned in a thick cloud of dust due to clearing machines digging through the rubble. “Antakya is over”, repeat residents. As far as the eye can see, there are only totally or partially collapsed buildings. Even those who are still holding are deeply cracked and no one dares to stay there.
The official global casualty count is over 15,000 dead, with nearly 50,000 injured in Turkey and 5,000 in Syria.
Earthquake in Syria: “This is an opportunity to depoliticize humanitarian aid in Syria”
“Where is the state? »
Turkey officially deplores at least 12,391 dead. This is the worst toll since the 1999 earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.4 and which left 17,000 dead, including a thousand in Istanbul.
At the epicenter of the earthquake, in Kahramanmaras, a city of more than a million inhabitants devastated and buried under snow, no help, no help had arrived on Tuesday. “Where is the state? Where is he ? (…) It’s been two days and we haven’t seen anyone. (…) The children froze to death,” protested Ali, who still hoped to see his brother and nephew again, trapped in the ruins of their building.
In Adiyaman, another city in southern Turkey, there is still no rescuer or equipment in some disaster areas, noted an AFP journalist. The volunteers are doing their best but anger is rising in the population. “Of course, there are shortcomings, it is impossible to be prepared for such a disaster”, pleaded on Wednesday President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited the province of Hatay, on the Syrian border. . “A few dishonest and dishonest people have published false statements such as + we have not seen soldiers or police,” he denounced.
Turkish social media is flooded with messages from people complaining about a lack of rescue efforts and searches for victims in their areas, especially in the Hatay region.
Turkish police have arrested a dozen people since Monday’s earthquake over social media posts criticizing the government’s handling of the disaster.
Twitter was inaccessible on Wednesday and internet governance watchdog netblocks.org said access to the social network was restricted “via several internet service providers in Turkey”.
