The death toll from the earthquake exceeds 25 thousand people in Turkey and Syria – Mother Jones

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Residents walk among the ruins of their homes in Antakya, Turkey. Boris Rossler/AP

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Rescuers in Turkey and Syria continued to pull survivors from collapsed buildings on Saturday, as the death toll from a 7.8-magnitude earthquake reached 25,000.

Last Monday’s earthquake and its aftershocks collapsed thousands of buildings in the region, injuring tens of thousands of people and displacing millions during sub-zero temperatures. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while touring some of the stricken cities, described it as the “disaster of the century.”

To date, the vast majority of the dead – about 22,000 of the total victims – have been found in Turkey. In war-torn Syria, particularly in opposition-held territory, rescuers have been forced to work with very limited resources, sometimes digging with their hands and simple construction tools to locate survivors. They have criticized the international community for failing to provide them with adequate assistance, as the Syrian government in Damascus restricted access to the area during the war. The UN aid official, Martin Griffiths, said he wanted Syrian rescuers to receive more help, but noted on Saturday that the situation there was “not yet clear”.

Meanwhile, several dramatic rescues took place in Turkey on Saturday, with survivors emerging from the rubble after days of being trapped. A family of five was released after 129 hours, according to The Washington Post, citing a Turkish news outlet, while a 4-year-old was found alive after 130 hours. In southern Turkey, after 128 hours, rescuers rescued a baby believed to be no more than two months old.

But hopes of saving more survivors are fading. “[T]Belit Zdemir, a UN liaison officer with AKUT’s search and rescue association, told CNN that the possibility of finding survivors under the rubble in below-freezing temperatures is becoming less likely. and rescue window.

A huge tomb is now under construction on the outskirts of Antakya, also in southern Turkey. Bulldozers are digging holes in the fields, ambulances are constantly arriving with black body bags.

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