Miracle rescues as earthquake death toll passes 33,000 in Turkey and Syria | Tellwell Newspaper
Tellwell Newspaper, Abuja – Nigeria:
Rescuers have pulled more survivors from the rubble a week after the devastating earthquake. The death toll in Turkey and Syria has now exceded 33,000, with the UN warning that the final number could rise by “double or more”. Also on Sunday, a new UN convoy arrived in Syria to deliver deperately needed international aid.
Officials and medics said 29,605 people had died in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria from Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, bringing the current total to 33,179.
A young boy and a 62-year-old woman were the latest miracle rescues after nearly seven days trapped under the wreckage of collapsed buildings.
Rescuers pulled a seven-month-old baby and a teenage girl from the rubble on Sunday.
UN relief chief Martin Griffiths says he expects the death toll to at least double after he arrived in southern Turkey to assess the damage.
Griffiths arrived in Turkey’s southern city of Kahramanmaras, the epicentre of the first 7.8-magnitude tremor.
On Sunday he denounced a failure to get desperately needed aid to war-torn regions of Syria.
A UN convoy with supplies for northwest Syria arrived via Turkey, but Griffiths said much more was needed for the millions whose homes were destroyed.
“We have so far failed the people in northwest Syria. They rightly feel abandoned. Looking for international help that hasn’t arrived,” Griffiths said on Twitter.
“My duty and our obligation is to correct this failure as fast as we can.”
Solidarity
Meanwhile Greece’s foreign minister arrived in Turkey on Sunday in a show of support, the ministry said, despite a longstanding rivalry between the two NATO countries.
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias was met by his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, according to footage on state-run ERT TV, before they boarded helicopters to quake-hit regions.
His arrival marks the first visit by a European minister to Turkey since the earthquake.
The two ministers are travelling to Antakya, where Greek rescuers are helping with search and rescue operations.
Almost 26 million people have been affected by the earthquake, the World Health Organization said as it launched a flash appeal on Saturday for $42.8 million to cope with immediate health needs.
Turkey’s disaster agency said more than 32,000 people from Turkish organisations are working on search-and-rescue efforts. There are also 8,294 international rescuers.
“Soon, the search and rescue people will make way for the humanitarian agencies whose job it is to look after the extraordinary numbers of those affected for the next months,” Griffiths said in a video posted to Twitter.
RFI/AFP
