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ADIYAMAN (TURKEY): Thousands left homeless by a massive earthquake that struck Turkiye and Syria a week ago packed into crowded tents or lined up in the streets for hot meals Monday, while the desperate search for anyone still alive likely entered its last hours. One crew wrested a 4-year-old girl from rubble in hard-hit Adiyaman, buried in debris since the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck. In nearby Hatay province, rescuers cheered and clapped as a 13-year-old boy, identified only by his first name, Kaan, was rescued 182 hours after the quake. Thousands of local and overseas teams, including Turkish coal miners and experts aided by sniffer dogs and thermal cameras, are scouring pulverised apartment blocks for signs of life.
While stories of near-miraculous rescues have flooded the airwaves in recent days – many broadcast live on Turkish television and beamed around the world – tens of thousands of dead have been found during the same period. Experts say given temperatures that have fallen to minus 6C – and the total collapse of so many buildings – the window for such rescues is nearly shut.
The quake and its aftershocks, including a major one nine hours after the initial temblor, struck southeastern Turkiye and northern Syria on February 6, killing more than 35,000 and reducing whole swaths of towns and cities inhabited by millions to fragments of concrete and twisted metal. Senior UN officials conceded that help to quake victims in Syria had been too slow, and Turkiye on Monday offered to open a second border crossing to assist the international effort.
Damage included heritage sites in places like Antakya, on the southern coast of Turkiye, an important ancient port and early centre of Christianity historically known as Antioch. Greek Orthodox churches in the region have started charity drives to assist the relief effort and raise funds to eventually rebuild or repair churches.
Some 100 kilometers from the epicenter, almost no houses were left standing in the village of Polat, where residents salvaged refrigerators, washing machines and other goods from wrecked homes. Not enough tents have arrived for the homeless, said survivor Zehra Kurukafa, forcing families to share the tents that are available. “We sleep in the mud, all together with two, three, even four families,” said Kurukafa.
Turkish authorities said Monday that more than 1,50,000 survivors have been moved to shelters outside the affected provinces. In the city of Adiyaman, Musa Bozkurt waited for a vehicle to bring him and others to western Turkiye. “We’re going away, but we have no idea what will happen when we get there,” said the 25-year-old. “We have no goal. Even if there was (a plan) what good will it be after this hour? I no longer have my father or my uncle. What do I have left?” But Fuat Ekinci, a 55-year-old farmer, was reluctant to leave his home, saying he didn’t have the means to live elsewhere and had fields that need to be tended.
Volunteers from across Turkiye have mobilised to help millions of survivors, including a group of chefs and restaurant owners who served traditional food such as beans and rice and lentil soup to survivors who lined up in the streets of downtown Adiyaman. Other volunteers continued with the rescue efforts.
As the scale of the disaster comes into view, sorrow and disbelief have turned to rage over the sense there has been an ineffective response to the historic disaster. That anger could be a problem for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who faces a tough reelection battle in May.
While stories of near-miraculous rescues have flooded the airwaves in recent days – many broadcast live on Turkish television and beamed around the world – tens of thousands of dead have been found during the same period. Experts say given temperatures that have fallen to minus 6C – and the total collapse of so many buildings – the window for such rescues is nearly shut.
The quake and its aftershocks, including a major one nine hours after the initial temblor, struck southeastern Turkiye and northern Syria on February 6, killing more than 35,000 and reducing whole swaths of towns and cities inhabited by millions to fragments of concrete and twisted metal. Senior UN officials conceded that help to quake victims in Syria had been too slow, and Turkiye on Monday offered to open a second border crossing to assist the international effort.
Damage included heritage sites in places like Antakya, on the southern coast of Turkiye, an important ancient port and early centre of Christianity historically known as Antioch. Greek Orthodox churches in the region have started charity drives to assist the relief effort and raise funds to eventually rebuild or repair churches.
Some 100 kilometers from the epicenter, almost no houses were left standing in the village of Polat, where residents salvaged refrigerators, washing machines and other goods from wrecked homes. Not enough tents have arrived for the homeless, said survivor Zehra Kurukafa, forcing families to share the tents that are available. “We sleep in the mud, all together with two, three, even four families,” said Kurukafa.
Turkish authorities said Monday that more than 1,50,000 survivors have been moved to shelters outside the affected provinces. In the city of Adiyaman, Musa Bozkurt waited for a vehicle to bring him and others to western Turkiye. “We’re going away, but we have no idea what will happen when we get there,” said the 25-year-old. “We have no goal. Even if there was (a plan) what good will it be after this hour? I no longer have my father or my uncle. What do I have left?” But Fuat Ekinci, a 55-year-old farmer, was reluctant to leave his home, saying he didn’t have the means to live elsewhere and had fields that need to be tended.
Volunteers from across Turkiye have mobilised to help millions of survivors, including a group of chefs and restaurant owners who served traditional food such as beans and rice and lentil soup to survivors who lined up in the streets of downtown Adiyaman. Other volunteers continued with the rescue efforts.
As the scale of the disaster comes into view, sorrow and disbelief have turned to rage over the sense there has been an ineffective response to the historic disaster. That anger could be a problem for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who faces a tough reelection battle in May.
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