Monitoring Desk
ANKARA: The death toll from a catastrophic quake that hit Turkey and Syria climbed to 33,000 on Sunday, with the United Nations (UN) warning that the final number may double.
Officials and medics said 29,605 people had died in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria from Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor, bringing the confirmed total to 33,179.
Seven days after two powerful earthquakes hours apart caused thousands of buildings to collapse, killing more than 33,000 people and leaving millions homeless. Meanwhile, rescuers were still pulling unlikely survivors from the debris.
Although each rescue attempt elicited hugs and shouts of “Allah o Akbar!” – from the weary women and men working tirelessly in the freezing temperatures to save precious lives, they were the exception in a region blanketed by grief, desperation, and mounting frustration.
Dozens of quake survivors rescued
More than a dozen quake survivors were rescued on Saturday, including a family in Kahramanmaras, the Turkish city nearest to the epicenter of Monday’s massive quake.
In Gaziantep province of Turkiye, which borders Syria, a family of five members was rescued from a ruined building in the city of Nurdagi, and a man and his three-year-old daughter were pulled out from debris in the town of Islahiye, HaberTurk television network reported.
Earlier in the week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged that the initial response to the quake was hampered by the extensive damage to roads and other communication infrastructure that made it difficult to reach some areas. He also said the worst-affected area was 310 miles (500 kilometers) in diameter and was home to 13.5 million people in Turkiye.
That has meant rescue crews have had to pick and choose how and where to help.
During a tour of quake-damaged cities Saturday, Erdogan said a disaster of this scope was rare and again referred to it as the “disaster of the century.”
But the challenges facing aid efforts were of little comfort to those waiting for help.
