International
Turkey-Syria earthquake live news: Fears grow for survivors
- The death toll from the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday has risen to more than 8,700.
- At least 6,234 people have died in Turkey, while at least 2,530 have been killed in Syria.
- ‘No longer a rescue operation’: AJ correspondentAl Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker was in Gaziantep and she gave a chilling account as rescue workers are racing against time to find survivors.“Unfortunately, where we are here, and also at another location that we just returned from it is a recovery operation, it is no longer a rescue operation,” Dekker said.“Around eighty people, bodies at this stage as rescue workers are saying, are believed to be under the rubble of this apartment. They are no longer hearing voices,” she said.“We just came back from another location where we saw a body being pulled from the rubble. It was a father. His daughter was there, she was sobbing – all the family members were there.Absolutely heart-breaking to see,” she added.
- 23m ago (07:14 GMT)Aerial images show the sheer scale of the devastation in Aleppo, Syria
[Handout: White Helmets via Reuters]
[Handout: White Helmets via Reuters]
[Handout: White Helmets via Reuters] - 29m ago (07:07 GMT)Malaysia to send second rescue team to TurkeyMalaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has announced that a second specialist rescue team will leave for Turkey.The Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) will join a team of 75 already on the ground and will be working in Gaziantep.The Ministry of Defence will also send a team of doctors and paramedics to set up a field hospital.The government has also agreed to send $1 million for Turkey and Syria, but it did not elaborate on how the funds will be split.
- 42m ago (06:54 GMT)Turkish victims buried under rubble swarm social media for helpFollowing the violent earthquakes, throngs of trapped victims utilised social media to reach out for help and pinpoint their locations for rescuers.“Friends, we are stuck under the earthquake,” Firat Yayla, a YouTuber known as Charmquell, said in the video shot in a dark space.“Mother! Are you okay? Mother! Tell me you hid somewhere. Please help!” he added before ending the video with his home address.Read the full story here.https://www.youtube.com/embed/UCw-mBuPj9w?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1
- 45m ago (06:51 GMT)Death toll from earthquakes climbs to more than 8,700The number of people who have died in the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria has surpassed 8,700.In Turkey 6,234 people died, the country’s Disaster Management Authority said. At least 37,011 were injured, the agency added.At least 1,280 people were killed in opposition-held northwest Syria, the White Helmet rescue service said, adding that “the number is expected to rise significantly due to the presence of hundreds of families under the rubble”.In areas under the Syrian government’s control authorities said at least 1,250 died.
- Residents struggle to flee quake-hit Turkish city of Gaziantep
- Gaziantep, Turkey – After a series of earthquakes and aftershocks in Turkey and Syria, many tried to flee the devastated city of Gaziantep, located about 33km (20 miles) from the epicentre.
- With the airport and many roads outside the city blocked, those who were unable to leave took refuge on Tuesday in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centres.
- “When I thought of leaving the city, it was already too late,” 25-year-old Yunus Koser told Al Jazeera.
- Koser, who took shelter in Sih Fetullah square with his mother and brother, was working a night shift in the Ibrahimli neighbourhood – one of the city’s most affected areas – when the first earthquake hit early on Monday.
- Read the full story here.
- 1h ago
- (05:54 GMT)
- Syrian Red Crescent calls Western countries to lift sanctions
- The Syrian Red Crescent has called on Western countries to lift sanctions on the country to facilitate relief efforts.
- “Lift the economic sanctions imposed on Syria and the Syrian people,” said Khaled Hboubati, president of the Syrian Red Crescent.
- “Open the way for us. We are ready to provide assistance. We are ready to provide aid through the crossline and to send aid convoys to Idlib,” he told reporters.
- “I call on the United Nations, and the countries on the European Union and the USAID Program to support,” he added.
- The Syrian government remains under heavy sanctions aimed at isolating the country economically in response to widely documented human rights violations since the war started in 2011.
- 1h ago
- (05:48 GMT)
- Syrian family pulled from the rubble after 40 hours
- Five members of a family were pulled out of the rubble following 40 hours of rescue operations in northwest Syria after Monday’s earthquakes.
- “After we lost hope, and experienced hours of fear because we had not been able to free anyone from under the rubble, we were able to take out a family: a husband and wife, and their three children,” Samer al-Omar, a rescue worker, told Al Jazeera.
- “We cried out of joy, after we had cried at how powerless we were. We brought them oxygen after they almost suffocated because of the earthquake. They’re now in hospital and in a good condition.”
- This is the moment when the family was rescued.
- 2h ago (05:29 GMT)South Korea sending 110 rescue workers to TurkeySouth Korea is dispatching 110 workers to assist in search and rescue efforts in quake-hit Turkey, according to the Yonhap news agency.The team comprises 60 members of the Korea Disaster Relief team and 50 military personnel, the agency reported.Seoul has already pledged $5m in emergency humanitarian assistance to Turkey.
South Korean rescue workers and search dogs prepare to leave for Turkey at the Incheon International Airport, South Korea, February 7, 2023 [Yonhap via Reuters] - 2h ago (04:47 GMT)Turkish survivors taking shelter at Gaziantep’s airportDozens of survivors are taking refuge at an airport in Turkey’s Gaziantep, a city close to the epicentre of Monday’s devastating earthquakes.About 100 people wrapped in blankets slept in one lounge of the terminal normally used to welcome Turkish politicians and celebrities, the AFP news agency reported. Among those huddled in the VIP lounge was Mustafa Ehianci, a 20-year-old student.“We are sleeping here, eating here. We are safe in this area, there is electricity and sewage,” he told AFP. “I don’t know when we will leave.”Mothers with small children meanwhile were huddled up sleeping inside the office of the VIP lounge director.“We saw the buildings collapse so we know we are lucky to be alive,” said Zahide Sutcu, who went to the airport with her two small children after fleeing her apartment.“But now our lives have so much uncertainty. How will I look after these children?” she asked. “We are desperate.
- 3h ago (04:32 GMT)Chinese rescue team arrives in TurkeyAn earthquake rescue team dispatched by China’s government has arrived at Turkey’s Adana Airport.The team, comprising 82 members, brought 20 tonnes of medical and other rescue supplies and equipment, as well as four search-and-rescue dogs, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.Separately, civil society rescue teams with at least 52 members from several provinces in China, including Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Guangdong, are heading to the earthquake-stricken areas in Turkey to carry out rescue work, CCTV reported.
- 3h ago (04:01 GMT)Anger building at Turkey’s earthquake response: AFPThe Turkish government is facing growing anger over its response to Monday’s deadly earthquakes, according to the AFP news agency.In hard-hit Gaziantep, where many people remain trapped under rubble, residents said no rescue team arrived in the city in the first 12 hours after the disaster. When the rescuers finally came on Monday evening, they only worked for a few hours before breaking for the night, residents told AFP.“People revolted [on Tuesday] morning. The police had to intervene,” said Celal Deniz, 61, whose brother and nephews remain trapped.“Where have all our taxes gone, collected since 1999?” he asked, referring to a levy dubbed “the earthquake tax” implemented after a massive tremor destroyed large parts of northwestern Turkey and killed 17,400 people.The revenues – now estimated to be 88 billion Turkish liras, or $4.7bn – were meant to have been spent on disaster prevention and the development of emergency services.
A woman reacts as she waits near a search and rescue operation in Gaziantep, Turkey, February 7, 2023 [Cagla Gurdogan/ Reuters] - 4h ago (03:31 GMT)More children pulled alive from rubble in TurkeyTurkish state media is reporting on the rescues of more children in southern Turkey.They include a 12-year-old girl in the province of Malatya who was pulled from the rubble after 40 hours and a 10-year-old Syrian girl who was rescued from the debris of a flattened five-storey building in the province of Hatay. She had been trapped under the rubble for 39 hours.Another four-year-old girl was rescued in Hatay, 33 hours after the earthquakes struck, while a six-year-old boy was also pulled from the rubble in Hatay. Anadolu Agency said emergency crews were now working on rescuing the boy’s mother.
Police officer Zekeriya Yildiz hugs his daughter after they saved her from the rubble in Hatay on February 6, 2023 [Bulent Kilic/ AFP] - 4h ago (03:00 GMT)US says helping quake-hit Syria but not AssadThe United States says it is working with partners to provide earthquake relief to Syria but will stand firm against working with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.Stephen Allen, who is leading the response on the ground for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said most of the damage is in areas under rebel control and that USAID has local partners there. He said his agency is reorienting assistance that was already in place to help war-hit Syrians, and focusing on rescue efforts and other immediate needs including providing shelter and food.“We’ve got the full gamut of humanitarian response going in northwest Syria right now,” Allen told reporters.He declined to name the non-governmental groups working with the US, citing operational security.Washington has refused to normalise relations with Assad’s government or to provide any direct reconstruction aid, seeking accountability for abuses during the brutal nearly 12-year civil war. The Syrian government has insisted that international aid — even to rebel-held areas — be routed through its agencies.
- 5h ago
- (02:36 GMT)
- Red Cross sending medical, food aid to Syria
- The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has sent surgical material, enough to treat 100 people, to a public hospital in Aleppo, Syria.
- “More of that and medical equipment is on its way to Aleppo, Latakia and Tartous, along with thousands of canned foods enough for tens of thousands of people, blankets and mattresses, and other essential items,” the ICRC said in a statement.
- 5h ago (02:23 GMT)‘Frantic’ search for survivors in Turkey’s KahramanmarasAl Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from the hard-hit city of Kahramanmaras in Turkey, said rescuers were working through the night in the frigid cold to pull survivors out of the rubble of collapsed homes.Serdar, reporting from the site of a flattened building, said at least three people were trapped under a pile of concrete and tangled iron.“The extreme weather, the lack of electricity, food and water – people are really struggling here,” he said. “But frantic efforts for survivors are under way. There are three people that we know of who are waiting for rescue under the rubble. But there may be tens of them beneath this rubble, some of them still alive.”He added: “Officials tell us that there are more than 1,000 people missing in Kahramanmaras alone.”
People sit next to a fire near a collapsed building after an earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, February 7, 2023 [Suhaib Salem/Reuters] - 5h ago (02:23 GMT)North Korea’s Kim Jong Un sends condolences to Syria’s AssadNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly sent his condolences about Monday’s quake to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.“I am sure that under your leadership, the Syrian government and the people will overcome damage from the quake as quickly as possible and the lives of affected people will be stabilised,” the Yonhap news agency reported, citing North Korea’s state-run radio network, Korean Central Broadcasting Station.Yonhap, a South Korean news agency, said there were no reports in state media of condolences being sent to Turkey.
- 5h ago
- (01:55 GMT)
- UN ‘exploring all avenues’ to send aid to rebel-held parts of Syria
- The United Nations says it is “exploring all avenues” to get supplies to rebel-held northwestern Syria and has released $25m from its emergency fund to help kick-start the humanitarian response in Turkey and Syria.
- UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the the global body is preparing a convoy to cross conflict lines within Syria, as Monday’s earthquakes have damaged the road leading to the main border crossing from Turkey to northern Syria.
- Bab al-Hawa is the only crossing through which UN aid is allowed into the rebel-held northwest. But sending a convoy through Syria would likely require a new agreement with President Bashar al-Assad’s government, which has laid siege to rebel-held areas throughout the civil war.
- In Turkey, Dujarric said, Syrian refugees make up more than 1.7 million of the 15 million people inhabiting the 10 provinces affected by the earthquake.
- 5h ago
- (01:47 GMT)
- Fears grow for untold numbers buried by quake
- Rescuers are racing against time to pull survivors from the rubble before they succumb to cold weather, two days after earthquakes tore through southern Turkey and war-ravaged northern Syria.
- More than 8,000 people have been pulled from the debris in Turkey, while some 380,000 have taken refuge in government shelters or hotels, authorities said. But authorities faced criticism from residents of Turkey’s Hatay province, sandwiched between Syria and the Mediterranean Sea, who say rescue efforts have lagged.
- “It’s like we woke up to hell,” said Osman Can Taninmis, whose family members were still beneath the rubble in Hatay. “We can’t respond to absolutely anything. Help isn’t coming, can’t come. We can’t reach anyone at all. Everywhere is destroyed.”
- Nurgul Atay told The Associated Press news agency that she could hear her mother’s voice beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in the Turkish city of Antakya, the capital of Hatay. But rescuers did not have the heavy equipment needed to rescue her.
- “If only we could lift the concrete slab, we’d be able to reach her,” she said. “My mother is 70 years old, she won’t be able to withstand this for long.”
- Health minister Fahrettin Koca said 1,647 people were killed in Hatay alone, the highest toll of any Turkish province. A total of 5,894 people have died in Turkey.
- Koca said at least 1,846 people had been rescued in Hatay as of Tuesday evening.
- Hatay’s airport was closed after the quake destroyed the runway, complicating rescue efforts
- 5h ago (01:47 GMT)Death toll in Syria rises to 1,932; thousands injuredThe death toll in Syria has risen to at least 1,932.The Syrian state news agency SANA said at least 812 people were killed and 1,449 people injured in the government-held provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Idlib and Tartous.At least 1,120 people were killed in Syria’s opposition-held northwest and 2,500 injured, with the toll expected to “rise dramatically,” rescuers in the region said.
Search and rescue operations continue in Syria, already struggling after 12 years of civil war [White Helmets/via Reuters] - SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
