After six days trapped in the rubble, a baby and a teenager were rescued alive this Sunday after the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria that, according to the UN, could have caused double the 28,000 deaths recorded so far.
Just arrived on Saturday in Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter of the quake in Turkey, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told Sky News that the balance of victims could still increase considerably.
“It’s really hard to estimate very accurately, because you have to get under the rubble, but I’m sure it’s going to double or more,” Griffiths said.
The latest balances place the number of deaths from the earthquake, the deadliest in the region since 1939, at 28,191 people (24,617 in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria).
in the middle of a devastating scenery and freezing coldtens of thousands of local and foreign rescuers work among the ruins in search of signs of life.
In this context, and although six days have passed since the magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred in the early hours of Monday, Miraculous survivor stories continue to emerge.
A seven-month-old baby named Hamza was rescued alive more than 140 hours after the earthquake in the Hatay province (southern Turkey) and the 13-year-old teenager Esma Sultan was saved in neighboring Gaziantep, according to state media that reproduces the AFP news agency.
Meanwhile, the concern for the survivors is not only to rescue more people alive, but also find the remains of their deceased relatives.
“The authorities no longer want to keep the bodies beyond a certain period, and they will take them for burial,” Tuba Yolcu said in Kahramanmaras, imploring: “May God help me find my aunt.”
Time is pressing not only for the people suspected of being caught in the destruction, but for hundreds of thousands of people affected homeless, hungry and cold.
“Soon the search and rescue people will give way to humanitarian agencies whose job it is to care for the extraordinary number of people affected in the coming months,” the UN humanitarian chief said.
The United Nations warned that even 5.3 million people were left homeless in Syria alone and that at least 870,000 urgently need food in both countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 26 million people were affected by the earthquake and launched an urgent appeal to raise $42.8 million to finance immediate health needs.
In Syria, with a health system and infrastructure already decimated by more than a decade of civil war, aid came more slowly.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took a flight loaded with emergency equipment to the Syrian city of Aleppo on Saturday.
“I am heartbroken to see the conditions facing the survivors,” he tweeted.
The government in Damascus announced that it had approved the delivery of humanitarian aid to areas beyond its control in Idlib province and that the convoy was to leave on Sunday, although it was later postponed.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged the Security Council to authorize the opening of more border posts to send aid to the rebel areas of Syria from Turkey.
