Monitoring Desk
AMMAN: Time is running out to save the lives of hundreds of families trapped under the rubble of ruined buildings brought down by Monday’s earthquake, said the head of the Syrian opposition-run civil defense service on Tuesday.
Raed Al-Saleh said urgent help was needed from international aid groups for the rescue effort in rebel-held northwest Syria, where thousands were killed and wounded.
“Every second means saving lives, and we appeal to all humanitarian organizations to give material assistance and respond to this calamity urgently,” he said.
The magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Syria and Turkiye early on Monday, toppling residential apartment blocks, wrecking hospitals, and leaving thousands of people wounded or homeless.
About 1,444 people were killed in Syria and around 3,500 injured, according to figures from the Syrian government and rescue workers in the insurgents-controlled northwestern region.
Rescue teams worked early on Tuesday to rescue people trapped in the rubble of ruined buildings in southern Turkiye as the number of deaths in that country rose to over 3,400.
In areas hit by the deadly quake in northwestern Syria, rescue efforts were hindered by a lack of equipment and the freezing cold. Rescuers cleared piles of rubbles using makeshift tools and their hands.
Rescue efforts in quake hit areas
“Our teams are making a lot of efforts, but they are unable to adequately respond to the calamity and a large number of collapsed buildings,” said Al-Saleh.
A non-governmental organization, Syria’s Emergency Response Team, which operates in the rebel-controlled enclave, said snow storms had blocked roads within makeshift camps that house thousands of displaced Syrians.
“We have great difficulty getting heavy equipment because of the widespread of places that were affected,” said a senior rescuer operating in Sarmada, Salamah Ibrahim.
The rebel-held enclave in northwest Syria is a refuge for nearly four million people, several of whom have been eliminated by a Russian-backed government in Syria that turned the tide in favor of President Bashar Assad during the over-a-decade-long Syrian conflict.
“Most of the hospitals are full, and the situation is catastrophic. We urgently need medicines to cover the needs,” said Zuhair al Qarat, head of the health authority in Idlib.
The destruction was also widely seen in government-controlled Aleppo city’s eastern sector, whose buildings bore the brunt of severe aerial bombing by Russian forces and the Syrian military to push out rebels in 2016, according to rescuers and aid workers.
