The confirmed death toll from a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey rose to more than 5,000 on Tuesday as more bodies were recovered from the rubble of destroyed buildings.
Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay said the total number of deaths in Turkey had risen to 3,419, with another 20,534 people injured. That brought the death toll to 5,102, with another 1,602 people confirmed dead on the Syrian side of the border.
Authorities feared the death toll from Monday morning’s earthquake and aftershocks would continue to rise as rescue workers searched the rubble for survivors.
Survivors screamed for help under piles of rubble as rescuers battled through rain and snow. The region continued to deal with seismic activity, including a jolt nearly as powerful as the initial quake. Rescue workers removed concrete slabs looking for bodies as families waited for news about their loved ones.
MORE THAN 2,300 DEAD IN TURKEY, SYRIA AFTER EARTHQUAKE OF 7.8 MAGNITUDES
Emergency teams search for people among the rubble in a destroyed building in Adana, Turkey, Monday, February 6, 2023.
Tens of thousands of people in Turkey and Syria suffered a cold night after the earthquake left them homeless. In the Turkish city of Gaziantep, the provincial capital located about 20 miles from the epicenter, people took refuge in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centers.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared seven days of national mourning after the earthquake. President Biden called Erdogan to express his condolences and offer assistance. The White House said it was sending search and rescue teams to help Turkey.
The quake was centered in Turkey’s southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, forcing residents of Damascus and Beirut into the streets. The quake was felt as far away as Cairo.
In Syria, the area is divided between government-controlled territory and the last opposition-controlled enclave of the country amid the country’s civil war. Hundreds of families in the rebel-held enclave were trapped in the rubble, according to a statement from the opposition emergency organization called the White Helmets.
People injured by the quake quickly filled the region’s medical centers, rescue teams said. Some facilities, including a maternity hospital, had to be emptied, according to the SAMS medical organization.
Orhan Tatar, an official with Turkey’s disaster management authority, said more than 7,800 people were rescued in 10 provinces.
The US Geological Survey said Monday’s quake had a magnitude of 7.8, with a depth of 11 miles. Hours later, a magnitude 7.5 temblor, likely triggered by the former, struck more than 60 miles away.
Thousands of buildings have reportedly collapsed in an area stretching from the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Hama to Diyarbakir in Turkey, more than 200 miles to the northeast.
Syrian Civil Defense workers and security forces search through the rubble of collapsed buildings in Aleppo, Syria, Monday, February 6, 2023.
More than 5,600 buildings, including hospitals, were destroyed in Turkey alone, authorities said.
Frigid temperatures could shorten the time rescuers have to save trapped survivors, said Steven Godby, a natural hazards expert at Nottingham Trent University, adding that the rescue area could prove even more challenging in areas beset by the Syrian civil war.
Dozens of countries, the European Union and NATO offered search and rescue teams, medical supplies and money to support the quake-hit region. The vast majority of support was offered to Turkey, but Russia and even Israel offered to help the Syrian government, although it was unclear if any would go to the rebel-held area in the northwest.
The opposition Syrian Civil Defense said the situation in the enclave was “disastrous”.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said 224 buildings in northwestern Syria were destroyed and at least 325 damaged.
TURKEY HIT WITH A 7.8 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE, FELT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
People and emergency teams search for people among the rubble of a destroyed building in Gaziantep, Turkey, Monday, February 6, 2023.
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In the small, rebel-held Syrian town of Azmarin, located in the mountains next to the Turkish border, the bodies of several dead children wrapped in blankets were brought to a hospital.
Some 20 people in Adana, some wearing emergency rescue vests, used power saws on top of the concrete pile of a collapsed building to clear space for survivors to get out or be rescued.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
