More than 4,365 people were killed in southeastern Turkey and neighboring Syria, following a violent earthquake Monday, with a magnitude of 7.8, followed by a few hours later. earthquake Another measuring 7.5 degrees was felt by residents of Greenland and Denmark, while cold weather and darkness hindered rescue operations.
The non-final death toll in Turkey rose Monday evening to 2,921, according to the Turkish Disaster Management Authority. In Syria, at least 1,444 people have been killed, according to the Ministry of Health and relief teams.
And the Syrian Ministry of Health announced that the death toll had risen to 711, and 1,431 others were injured in government-controlled areas in the governorates of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, and Tartous. Meanwhile, the White Helmets Organization (Civil Defense), which operates in the northern areas outside the control of Damascus, reported that 733 people were killed and more than 2,100 others were injured.
According to the Turkish Disaster Management Authority, 7,340 people had been rescued from the rubble as of Monday evening.
The toll continues to rise, as a very large number of people are still under the rubble. Also, rain, snow and low temperatures with the onset of darkness hinder the efforts of rescuers.
Under these circumstances, the World Health Organization expected the final outcome to be much greater than the announced non-final numbers.
“There is a constant possibility of additional collapses, and we often see numbers that are 8 times higher than the initial numbers,” Catherine Smallwood, director of emergencies at the World Health Organization’s European office, told Agence France-Presse.
The first earthquake occurred at 4:17 local time in Turkey, at a depth of about 17.9 kilometers, according to the American Geological Survey, and its epicenter was in the Pazardik region in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaraş (southeast), 60 kilometers from the Syrian border.
Dozens of aftershocks followed, before a new 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck at 10:24 GMT in southeastern Turkey, 4 km from the city of Ikinosu.
More: More than 3,800 dead in Turkey and Syria due to a devastating earthquake
The most severe earthquake in years
This tremor is the most severe in Turkey since the August 17, 1999 earthquake, which killed 17,000 people, including 1,000 in Istanbul.
Weather conditions in this mountainous region paralyze the main airports around Diyarbakir and Malatya, with heavy snowfall continuing.
Residents gather everywhere and try to remove the rubble with their bare hands, using buckets.
In Syria, the earthquake caused scenes of panic, with residents leaving the affected areas on foot or by car, despite the heavy rains, as well as in Lebanon, where the population felt strong tremors.
In Hama (center-west), rescuers and civilians were pulling out with their own hands and with the help of heavy machinery the bodies of the victims from under the rubble, including the body of a child.
Alaa al-Shaker, disaster management coordinator for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Hama, told AFP: “We have received reports of the collapse of a 7-storey building, where between 100 and 150 people live. We found 40 to 45 people. There are reports of 15 to 25 killed.” person.”
global solidarity
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is preparing to run for elections on May 14, called for national unity.
He wrote on Twitter: “We hope to get out of this disaster together as soon as possible and with the least possible damage,” noting that Turkey has received aid from 45 countries. Erdogan declared a 7-day national mourning in the country.
For its part, the European Union, which many of its countries offered to provide assistance to the residents of the affected areas, began sending relief teams.
Condolences poured in from all over the world, from US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Chinese Xi Jinping, passing by Pope Francis, who said he was “very sad,” as well as offers of humanitarian and medical aid.
During a phone call with Erdogan, Biden confirmed his country’s readiness to provide any assistance Turkey needs after the devastating earthquake disaster.
The White House announced that the United States is working to send two teams, each consisting of 79 paramedics, to assist Turkey in search and rescue operations.
The Kremlin, Syria’s ally, said that teams of paramedics would go to Syria “in the coming hours,” at a time when the army announced that more than 300 Russian soldiers were deployed in the affected areas of Syria to assist in rescue efforts.
The Kremlin also indicated that the Turkish president accepted, after a phone call with his Russian counterpart, “the help of Russian paramedics.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had “agreed” to send aid to Syria, after receiving a request from Damascus through “diplomatic” channels, while Damascus denied this.
Netanyahu also spoke of his issuance to all authorities of the immediate readiness to provide aid to Turkey.
For his part, the European Commissioner in charge of crisis management, Janis Lenarcic, wrote in a tweet: “After the earthquake that occurred in Turkey, we activated the civil defense mechanism in the European Union (…) and teams from the Netherlands and Romania went,” in addition to 139 French paramedics and 76 Polish firefighters. .
Azerbaijan, Qatar, India and the UAE provided aid to the two countries.
Damage to archaeological sites
The Aleppo Citadel and a number of other archaeological sites were damaged, according to the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums.
In Turkey, the greatest damage was recorded near the epicenter of the earthquake that occurred at dawn between Kahramanmaraş and Gaziantep, where entire residential communities were destroyed.
Gas pipelines feeding the region have also been damaged, depriving the provinces of Hatay, Kahramanmaraş and Gaziantep of gas, according to the Turkish oil pipeline company BOTAŞ.
France 24/AFP
