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Turkey-Syria live news: Earthquake death toll crosses 24,000
By Kevin Doyle and Usaid Siddiqui
Welcome to our live coverage of the Turkey-Syria earthquakes. These are the latest updates:
- 36m ago (06:45 GMT)Death toll passes 24,000The death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquake reached 24,000 as rescuers continued to work around the clock to find survivors.In Turkey, the number of fatalities has risen to 20,665, the country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) has said.It said that nearly 93,000 victims have been evacuated from the quake zone in southern Turkey and that more than 166,000 personnel were involved in the rescue and relief efforts.Meanwhile in Syria, more than 3,500 people have been reported dead.At least 870,000 people urgently needed food in the two countries after the quake, which has made up to 5.3 million people homeless in Syria alone, the UN warned.
- 1h ago (05:47 GMT)Indonesian search and rescue teams join international efforts in TurkeySearch and rescue teams from Indonesia have departed for Turkey to assist with the international aid effort following this week’s deadly earthquakes.Two military aircraft with more than 50 staff and 24 tonnes of aid were dispatched from the Halim Perdanakusuma air force base in Jakarta on Saturday.“Our task in this first batch is attached to the SAR (search and rescue) team or the response agency in Turkey, this team will get SAR assignments around the Hatay area to search for victims in collapsed buildings,” Bambang Suryaputra, an official with Indonesia’s National Board for Disaster Management, said before departure.
Indonesian search and rescue personnel prepare to deploy for Turkey from Halim Perdanakusuma airbase in Jakarta, Indonesia, on February 11, 2023 [Willy Kurniawan/Reuters] - 2h ago (04:26 GMT)Cuba deploys ‘white coat army’ of medics to Turkey, SyriaCuba is sending healthcare workers to Turkey and Syria, joining a growing international effort to provide rescue and medical aid after this week’s devastating earthquakes.Cuban authorities in Havana said on Friday evening that 32 medics were set to depart for Turkey, Reuters reported.Earlier in the week, Syrian ambassador Ghassan Obeid told Cuban state-run media that 27 Cuban medics would be headed to Syria to provide support to victims of earthquakes.Cuba regularly sends its “armies of white coats” to disaster sites and disease outbreaks around the world since. Cuban doctors were on the front lines in the fight against cholera in Haiti and against Ebola in West Africa in the 2010s.
An image of late revolutionary hero Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara displayed during a farewell ceremony of Cuban doctors heading to Turkey to assist in earthquake relief, in Havana, Cuba, on February 10, 2023 [Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters] - 4h ago (03:14 GMT)UN food agency appeals for help to get quake victims hot mealsThe UN World Food Programme (WFP) is appealing for $77m to provide food rations and hot meals to a total of 874,000 people affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.Those in dire need of hot food in the region’s bitterly cold winter conditions include 284,000 newly displaced people in Syria and 590,000 people in Turkey, including 45,000 refugees and 545,000 internally displaced people.“For the thousands of people affected by the earthquakes, food is one of the top needs right now and our priority is to get it to the people who need it fast,” WFP Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Corinne Fleischer said in a statement.
A displaced Syrian girl eats food given to her by a volunteer group inside a gymnasium being used as a homeless shelter in the coastal city of Latakia, Syria, on February 10, 2023 [Omar Sanadiki/AP Photo] - 4h ago (02:25 GMT)Sporting world steps up to help in Turkey-Syria earthquake reliefThe International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the European football body UEFA are among the sporting federations providing financial aid for those affected by the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.The IOC created an emergency fund and will donate $1m to help those affected by the disaster in Turkey and Syria, the IOC said on Friday.UEFA and its Foundation for Children will donate an initial 200,000 euros ($214,000) to support the humanitarian operation in Turkey and Syria.The UK’s Premier League said it will be donating one million pounds ($1.2m) in response to the tragedies and that players and officials will wear black armbands for this weekend’s round of Premier League matches.
- 5h ago (01:40 GMT)Partner of missing footballer Christian Atsu appeals for rescue effort in TurkeyClaire Rupio, the partner of Ghanaian football player Christian Atsu who remains missing in Turkey following Monday’s earthquakes, has called for equipment to be sent to the collapsed building where the Hatayspor winger was living in Hatay province.Atsu, 31, was initially reported to have been rescued from the rubble with injuries and transported to hospital after the quakes. However, Hatayspor team director Volkan Demirel later said the Ghanaian player was still missing.“The club was confirming that they had found him and that he was alive and had taken him to hospital, and 11 hours later my children had to hear on the radio that they still didn’t know where he was,” Rupio told BBC News on Friday. “I still pray and believe he is alive,” said Rupio, who lives in Newcastle, United Kingdom, where Atsu once played.“I appeal to the Hatayspor club, the Turkish authorities and the British government to send the necessary equipment to get people out of the rubble, especially my partner and father of my children,” she said.Rupio said that Nana Sechere, Atsu’s agent, is now in Turkey trying to reach the building in Hatay where he lived.
Then-Newcastle United player Christian Atsu in 2020 at St James’ Park, Newcastle, United Kingdom [File: Reuters] - 6h ago (01:06 GMT)UN spokesperson defends quake rescue responseUN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said about 130 urban search-and-rescue teams from around the world are working in Turkey and another 57 teams are on their way.In response to Syrian critics who have accused the UN of not doing enough to help find victims, the spokesperson said the UN does not have its own search-and-rescue teams. Instead, the agency has a coordinating role through its disaster assessment teams.A UN disaster-assessment team is in Syria and deploying to government-controlled Aleppo, Homs and Latakia, Dujarric said. A second UN aid convoy entered Syria’s rebel-held enclave on Friday from Turkey, bringing shelter and non-food items, he said.The UN World Food Program delivered food aid to 115,000 people in Turkey and Syria in the first four days since the earthquake struck, while the World Health Organization has delivered 72 metric tonnes of trauma and emergency surgery supplies to both countries, he said.
Soldiers and a member of UN forces of the Turkish Army unload relief supplies for quake-hit people in Turkey’s Kahramanmaras on February 10, 2023 [Ozan Kose/AFP] - 6h ago (00:37 GMT)Rescuers find Syrian mother and two children alive under rubbleSyria’s state news agency SANA reported that paramedics succeeded in rescuing a mother and her two adult children from under the rubble of a building in the coastal town of Jableh late on Friday – the fifth day after the earthquakes struck Turkey and northern Syria.SANA said the three survivors were Duha Nurallah, 60, her son Ibrahim Zakariya, 22, and her daughter Rawiya, 24.Although experts say trapped people can live for up to a week or more, the chances of finding survivors are dimming.The three were immediately taken away in ambulances.
Rescuers search for survivors at the site of a damaged building, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, in the Syrian city of Jableh, on February 10, 2023 [Yamam al Shaar/Reuters]
