Four days after the violent earthquake that killed more than 22,000 people in one of the worst disasters in the region for a century, the hope of finding new survivors is dwindling in Turkey and Syria.
According to the latest official reports this Friday morning, the earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.8, followed by more than a hundred tremors, killed at least 22,368 people, including 18,991 in Turkey and 3,377 in Syria. The WHO estimates that ch million people are “potentially exposed, including about five million vulnerable people” and fears a major health crisis that would cause even more damage than the earthquake.
In addition, four French nationals are among the victims announced Friday the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “We deplore four French victims at this time,” he said, adding that they all perished in Turkey.
The Quai d’Orsay adds that it is following “with the greatest attention the situation of the French present in the area at the time of the earthquakes, in conjunction with the Turkish authorities”. To ensure their protection, the Ministry’s Crisis and Support Center and the French Embassy in Ankara have opened crisis cells. “Given the difficult situation in this area, we urge French people who have considered going there to postpone any travel plans”, also asks the ministry.
“Delivered to Ourselves”
Relief “is not going as fast as hoped”, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted for the first time on Friday. “The destruction affected so many buildings (…) that unfortunately, we were not able to carry out our interventions as quickly as hoped”, declared the Head of State on a visit to the city of Adiyaman ( South), which was badly affected by the disaster.
On both sides of the border, thousands of homes were destroyed. Rescuers are stepping up their efforts to search for survivors, even though the crucial first 72-hour window to find survivors has closed, with the situation further aggravated by freezing cold. After several days of helpless waiting, the 130 rescuers dispatched by Qatar found a 12-year-old boy in the rural town of Nurdagi, 40,000 inhabitants, located near the epicenter of the earthquake.
Hundreds of rescue workers from Malaysia, Spain, Kazakhstan, India and elsewhere are also hard at work there. The inhabitants, forced to live in tents or in their cars, witness in tears the comings and goings of rescuers who try to locate possible survivors using drones and thermal detection cameras.
Humanitarian aid
A first aid convoy consisting of six trucks entered the rebel areas of northwestern Syria from Turkey on Thursday through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing. Composed of six trucks transporting blankets, mattresses, tents, relief equipment and solar lamps, it should cover the needs of at least 5,000 people, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The organization of the White Helmets, rescue workers who operate in Syrian rebel areas, expresses its “disappointment”, considering that this aid was “routine” and not specific to the search for survivors under the rubble.
Almost all of the humanitarian aid destined for the rebel areas is sent from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, the only one currently guaranteed by the UN. Turkish diplomacy indicates that it is working to open two other crossing points “with the regions under government control” of Damascus “for humanitarian reasons”. The UN said on Tuesday that the flow through this border post was disrupted due to damaged roads, even if the platform for transshipping goods and the crossing point itself were intact.
The Syrian government announced Friday to accept the delivery of international aid to areas held by rebels in the northwest of the country devastated by a deadly earthquake. In a statement released by the official Syrian agency Sana, the government specified that the distribution of humanitarian aid should be “supervised by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Red Crescent”, with the help of the UN.
The organization, via its High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, for its part called for “an immediate ceasefire” in the country to facilitate aid to the victims. “calls for an immediate ceasefire in Syria and full respect for human rights and humanitarian law obligations so that aid can reach everyone,” reads a tweet from the High Commission. “At this terrible time in #Turkey & #Syria, we call for the urgent delivery of assistance to ALL those in need,” he insisted.
VIDEO. Earthquake in Turkey: the extent of the damage before / after seen from a satellite
For his part, the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announces that he is “on the way to Syria”. The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric announced Thursday evening, on Twitter, her arrival in Aleppo, stressing that “communities struggling after years of fierce fighting are now paralyzed by the earthquake. earthen “.
Humanitarian organizations are particularly worried about the spread of the cholera epidemic, which has reappeared in Syria. The EU sent first aid to Turkey hours after the quake on Monday. But it initially offered only minimal aid to Syria through existing humanitarian programs, due to international sanctions in place since the start of the civil war in 2011. Germany is sending 90 tons of material this morning , including about sixty tents, a thousand camp beds, electric blankets, and electric generators, as requested by the Turkish authorities.
On Wednesday, Damascus formally requested EU assistance and the Commission asked member states to respond favorably to this request. European Commissioner Janez Lenarcic, coordinator of EU assistance, was in Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey, on Thursday to meet Turkish officials but also humanitarian organizations active in northwestern Syria, reveals the commission. The World Bank announces that it will provide aid of 1.78 billion dollars to Turkey.
US releases $85 million
The United States is no exception. Washington releases an envelope of 85 million dollars to Turkey and Syria. This funding will be disbursed to partners in the field “to provide the urgently needed aid to millions of people”, particularly in terms of food and health care, details USAID in a press release.
The American development agency specifies that the aid should also make it possible to help with the supply of drinking water and to prevent the spread of disease. The United States had already sent rescue teams to Turkey and provided jackhammers, electricity generators, water purification systems, and helicopters. USAID says rescue teams are focusing their efforts on the quake-hit town of Adiyaman, searching for survivors using dogs, cameras, and listening devices. Due to damage to roads and bridges, the Pentagon sent in Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters to transfer supplies.
France has released emergency aid to the Syrian population to the tune of 12 million euros, after sending 139 rescuers earlier this week. The rescuers are not intended to intervene in Syria, “it is a device for Turkey”, had specified the entourage of the minister.
For its part, London announced additional financial aid of at least 3.4 million euros, making a total amount of nearly 4.3 million euros allocated to the White Helmets.