1.8 million are in tents at poor living conditions, it brings risk of an epidemic outbreak
The cries of a 7-month-old boy were heard by rescuers in the Turkish province of Hatay as they continued to race against time. It miraculously survived –
140 hours without food and water,
in conditions of hellish cold and under the ruins of a multi-story building. The more time that passes, the smaller the chance of getting out alive. Although less and less, rescuers still come across survivors, and these are mainly children – probably they were lucky enough to fall into small niches under the tons of concrete, and their young organisms managed to survive.
The victims are already over 33,000. The UN predicts that their number may double.
A 10-year-old girl was also pulled out from under several concrete slabs, 147 hours after the first tremor. A Bulgarian anesthesiologist performed an amputation of a limb together with a Polish surgeon to save the life of a 60-year-old man who was crushed by a 4-story building. To reach it, the two doctors climbed through an 8-meter tunnel.
His condition was stable, although his pulse was rapid. However, his palm was stuck under the concrete slab, his right hand was already swollen. “I was afraid when I saw where I had to enter by crawling. The tunnel was stabilized with hydraulic props, but there were aftershocks. Every entry was risky,” said Dr. Veselin Yolov from the Medical Institute of the Ministry of the Interior.
On Saturday evening, the first rescue team that helped in Turkey returned to our country. For five days the teams worked, exposed to
extremely risky conditions and overload
“The first two days we didn’t know whether it was day or night, what time it was. We just let the dogs work and at one point we stopped them to rest, as their nose work tires them out quickly”, says Atanas Ukov. He says that the organization of the most affected areas was perfect.
“Very good coordination with the Turkish rescue service on the ground, who provided us with translators, policemen and we had an arrangement to send us to places where there are likely to be people alive. Maybe that logistics made us efficient.”
Another aid package for Turkey was sent by the DPS. So far
the movement it followed over 35 tyre,
dozens of vans and cars with the necessities for those in need. On Saturday, the leader Mustafa Karadayi left for Edirne with one of the tanks, and on Sunday another 5,000 stretchers left.
The chairman of the 48th National Assembly, Vezhdi Rashidov, is also preparing a personal donation, as he will first discuss with the Turkish ambassador to our country, Aileen Sekizkök, what is most urgent.
Departments to investigate crimes related to the deaths and injuries during the earthquakes have been created by the Turkish Ministry of Justice, Vice President Fuat Oktay announced. So far, 131 people are suspected of being responsible for the collapse of some of the thousands of buildings in the 10 Turkish provinces hit by the quakes. Of them, 113 people have already been detained.
According to the Minister of Environment Murat Kurum
with collapsed 24,921 buildings,
or have been seriously damaged. Over 170,000 have been surveyed.
Rescuers warn that there is already a great danger of the outbreak of epidemics. In Turkey alone, 1 million homeless people are accommodated in temporary housing and tents. There are about 800,000 in Syria. “There is danger in regions where people do not have access to clean drinking water,” said Thomas Gainer, a doctor from the German humanitarian organization NAVIS.
The many bodies under the rubble they can infect the water,
he warned. In places, people don’t have access to toilets, so microbes can get into the groundwater.
According to him, the most important thing now is for the aid to reach the affected areas in the coming days. Given their area, however, it is practically impossible to provide the necessary infrastructure everywhere.
Against this background, the authorities in Berlin announced that they would allow Turks who have relatives there to come to them for a while. Tens of thousands of people in Germany have Turkish roots, the largest immigrant group since the 1950s to attract labor. The authorities have created a special unit to work on facilitating the procedure for issuing visas.
Regarding the accusations that the EU does not provide aid to Syria, Brussels said that they are “completely unfair”. Humanitarian aid has reached Turkey faster than Syria because of the response of local authorities. Ankara activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (created in October 2001 b.r.) back on February 6. It can be activated by any country in the world in the event of a natural disaster or emergency.
Thus, already in the first day after the strong earthquakes, 19 countries from the European Union plus Albania and Montenegro mobilized over 1100 rescuers to provide help in the affected areas. Syria activated the Mechanism two days late – on February 8. A day before, the EU reported that they were in contact with the humanitarian organizations on the ground and were looking for ways to provide assistance. Rescue teams, medical supplies and medicines, as well as temporary shelter, were requested. On the same day, the EC allocated an initial package of emergency humanitarian aid in the amount of 3.5 million euros to Syria.
