Rescues Dwindle in Turkey After Earthquake
A teenage girl was pulled alive from the rubble in Turkey on Thursday more than 10 days after a devastating earthquake hit the region, but such rescues have become increasingly rare, leaving anger to smoulder as hope dies.
The 17-year-old was extracted from the ruins of a collapsed apartment bloc in Turkey’s southeastern Kahramanmaras province, 248 hours since the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck in the dead of night on Feb. 6. Reports said.
Footage showed her being carried away on a stretcher covered with a gold-coloured thermal blanket while an emergency worker held an intravenous drip aloft.
The quake killed at least 36,187 in southern Turkey, while authorities in neighbouring Syria have reported 5,800 deaths – a figure that has changed little in days.
International aid agencies are stepping up efforts to help the millions of people left homeless, many of whom are sleeping in tents, mosques, schools or in their own cars.
The United Nations on Thursday appealed for more than $1 billion in funds for the Turkish relief operation, just two days after launching a $400 million appeal for Syrians.
U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths, who visited Turkey last week, said the people have “experienced unspeakable heartache,” adding: “We must stand with them in their darkest hour and ensure they receive the support they need.”
Several people were found alive in Turkey on Wednesday, but the number of rescues has dwindled significantly. Neither Turkey nor Syria have said how many people are still missing.
For families still waiting to retrieve their lost relatives, there is growing anger over what they see as corrupt building practices and deeply flawed urban development that resulted in thousands of homes and businesses disintegrating.
“I have two children. No others. They are both under this rubble,” said Sevil Karaabdüloğlu, as excavators tore down what remained of a high-end block of flats in the southern city of Antakya, where her two daughters had lived.
Around 650 people are believed to have died when the Renaissance Residence building collapsed in the quake.
“We rented this place as an elite place, a safe place. How do I know that the contractor built it this way? … Everyone is looking to make a profit. They’re all guilty,” she said.
Some 200 km, 125 miles, away, around 100 people gathered at a small cemetery in the town of Pazarcik, to bury a family of four — Ismail and Selin Yavuzatmaca and their two young daughters — who all died in the doomed Renaissance building.
Turkey has promised to investigate anyone suspected of responsibility for the collapse of buildings and has ordered the detention of more than 100 suspects, including developers.
Reuters /Shakirat Sadiq
