Rescue teams worked early Tuesday morning to extract those trapped under the rubble of buildings in southern Turkey, as the death toll in the country as a result of the devastating earthquake that occurred on Monday rose to nearly three thousand.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake shook Turkey and Syria in the early hours of Monday morning, bringing down entire residential complexes, destroying hospitals and leaving thousands injured or homeless.
The Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said in its latest statement that about 8,000 people were rescued from 4,758 buildings destroyed in the earthquakes the previous day.
The head of the administration, Yunus Sezer, added that 2,921 people have died in Turkey, where aftershocks continue to occur.
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center said another 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit central Turkey on Tuesday.
An all-night search for survivors was hampered by severe winter weather. A woman’s voice calling for help was heard under a pile of rubble in the southern province of Hatay.
Desperate, a resident who identified himself as Deniz said: “They are making noises but it comes (from under the rubble…we are destroyed… Oh my God…) they are calling. They say save us but we cannot save them. How are we going to save them? There is no one.” rescuers) since morning.”
Temperatures dropped to near freezing overnight, making conditions dire for those trapped under the rubble or left homeless.
In Kahramanmaraş, north of Hatay, entire families gather around bonfires to keep warm.
“We were barely able to get out of the house,” said Nesit Guler, who was huddled around the fire with his four children. “We are in a catastrophic situation. We are hungry and thirsty.”
The quake, which was followed by a series of aftershocks, was the largest global earthquake recorded by the USGS since the August 2021 South Atlantic earthquake.
It was the deadliest earthquake in Turkey since the 1999 magnitude one that killed more than 17,000 people. Nearly 16,000 people were reported injured in the quake on Monday.
In Syria, at least 1,444 have been killed and some 3,500 wounded, according to figures from the Damascus government and rescue workers in the opposition-held northwest.
The effects of the earthquake in Syria were exacerbated by the devastation caused by the civil war.
