The Turkish Agency for Disaster Management, AFADraised this Sunday to 41,020 the death toll from the earthquake on February 6 in the south of the country, while suspending rescue operations, except in the two provinces most affected by the earthquake, it was officially reported.
The more than 41,000 deaths due to the earthquake reported this Sunday by Turkey are added to the deaths in northwestern Syria, much more difficult to calculate, according to the Europa Press news agency, which collects information from the Turkish agency Anatolia.
The United Nations estimates that between 4,000 and 4,400 people would have died in northwestern Syriaaccording to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
So, the earthquakes would have caused more than 45,000 deathseach time closer to the initial approximation of the UN, which estimated the total at least 50,000
The president of the organization, Yunus SezerHe added that “search and rescue operations will, for the most part, come to an end on Sunday afternoon,” as chances of finding survivors dwindling nearly two weeks after the quakes.
Turkey: another three people are found alive under the rubble, 13 days after the quake https://t.co/bwtPTPVv6b
– Telam Agency (@AgenciaTelam) February 18, 2023
“In many of our provinces, search and rescue has ended. Work continues in Kahramanmaras and Hatay provinces,” Sezer told reporters in Ankara.
For his part, the Turkish Defense Minister, Hulusi Akarstressed that at this time we must appeal “to unity and solidarity.”
“We will do everything possible to heal these wounds,” he said, Turkey’s state news agency Anatolia reported.
Turkish Vice President fuat oktayexplained that more than 374,000 people have already been evacuated of the affected regions, including near 1,600 unaccompanied children.
However, he mentioned that more than 950 “have already been reunited with their families.”
The regional director of emergencies of the World Health Organization (WHO), Rick Brennanaffirmed last week from Damascus that the body calculates at least 9,300 deaths in Syria — some 4,800 in areas controlled by the authorities and 4,500 in areas in rebel hands–, although he qualified that right now there is no way to make a projection adjusted.
According to local specialists, the fracture line where the seismic movement occurred was relatively calm in recent times, but this relative calm was what produced the greatest power of the earthquake because the energy was accumulating and had to be released.
One of the reasons for the great mortality of the earthquake, which had its epicenter in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, was that it occurred at 4:17 local time, so it surprised the population sleeping, which caused many of the victims to be left trapped in homes that collapsed.
In turn, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) indicated that the destruction affected the old city of Aleppo, in northern Syria, which is included in the world heritage in danger, since Diyarbakır fortress, southern Turkey.
According to a survey by the World Health Organization (WHO), almost 26 million people, 15 million in Turkey and 11 million in Syria, were affected by the devastating earthquake.
In this framework, the UN launched a call for donations to meet the “immense needs” of millions of people without housing or food after the earthquake that sowed destruction in Turkey and Syria and left almost 40,000 dead.
The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, urged the member states of the organization to contribute “without delay” 397 million dollars to ensure “humanitarian aid that is desperately needed by almost five million Syrians”, starting with “shelter, medical attention and food”.
“The needs are immense” and “we know that life-saving aid is not coming at the speed and scale needed,” Guterres insisted.
