Nearly 5,000 people have died as a result of the succession of earthquakes registered on Monday in southern Turkey, near the Syrian border, according to updated casualty figures provided by the authorities of both countries.
Search and rescue efforts continue, due to the magnitude of the disaster, after the earthquake that has completely destroyed thousands of buildings, so it is expected that the number of victims in both Turkey and Syria will increase considerably.
On the one hand, the Turkish authorities have reported the death of 3,381 people, as well as 15,834 injured, according to the president of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), Yunus Sezer, according to the Anatolia agency.
AFAD estimates that more than 6,200 buildings have been completely destroyed, mainly as a result of the 7.4 earthquake that shook the country early in the morning and a subsequent earthquake at midday that reached magnitude 7.6 on the Richter scale.
Meanwhile, more than 24 hours after the quake struck, four people – a mother and her three children – have been rescued alive from the rubble of a building, according to Turkish authorities.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the event was «the biggest disaster since the 1939 earthquake,» which left more than 30,000 people dead. Authorities estimate that more than a hundred aftershocks of the first major quake have been recorded.
MORE THAN 1,400 IN SYRIA On the other hand, the earthquake has left more than 769 dead and 1,450 wounded in Syrian government-controlled areas, according to provisional data from the Ministry of Health, which indicate that the victims are from the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Idlib and Tartus.
«The alert continues in all public and private health facilities, and all health cadres are working at maximum capacity, and the ongoing response is being coordinated in the various governorates,» reads a statement from the Syrian Health portfolio on its Facebook profile.
To the Syrian government figures must be added more than 700 dead and 2,000 wounded in rebel-held areas in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, in the northwest of the Arab country, as indicated by the Syrian Civil Defense, known as ‘white helmets’, through its Twitter account, where it has lamented «the catastrophe and devastation» caused by the earthquake.
The ‘white helmets’ have also appealed to «all humanitarian organizations and international agencies to provide material support and assistance to organizations» in order to «respond to this disaster and urgently help the victims of the earthquake». Thus, they have detailed that about 210 buildings «have collapsed completely» because of the earthquake, while more than 440 have been «partially destroyed» and that «thousands more have suffered damage».
In addition, at 8:26 a.m. (local time), the affected area felt a new earthquake. This time, the earthquake measured 4.7 on the Richter scale.
SYRIA ASKS THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOR HELP Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Bassam Sabbagh, has described to UN Secretary General António Guterres the Syrian efforts regarding the devastating earthquake, as reported by the Sana news agency.
In the letter, Sabbagh has asked member states and partners of the international body to «extend a hand of solidarity to support the Syrian government’s efforts to cope with the humanitarian disaster, especially in terms of the search for survivors and the rescue of those trapped under the rubble.»
The Syrian diplomat reaffirmed the country’s position to coordinate with the United Nations to provide humanitarian aid to all those in need throughout the country, stressing that Syria «is ready to provide assistance» by cooperating «with those who wish to provide aid to Syrians».
On the other hand, the first planes with humanitarian aid for those affected by the earthquake have arrived on Syrian territory. Two Iraqi-flagged planes have landed at Damascus International Airport. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry, which explained that «what happened to Syria» affected «everyone», said that each aircraft has 70 tons of food, medicines and blankets.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)