Rescuers race to find earthquake survivors
Syria — Rescuers scoured debris in a desperate search for survivors on Friday four days after a massive earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, killing nearly 22,000 people, as the United States offered an $85-million aid package.
The first UN aid deliveries arrived on Thursday in Syrian rebel-held zones, but chances of finding survivors have dimmed since the passing of the three-day mark that experts consider a critical period to save lives.
The US Agency for International Development said its aid package will go to partners on the ground “to deliver urgently needed aid for millions of people”, including through food, shelter and emergency health services.
It will also support safe drinking water and sanitation to prevent the outbreak of disease, USAID said in a statement.
Bitter cold hampered search efforts in both countries, but more than 80 hours after the disaster struck, 16-year-old Melda Adtas was found alive in the southern Turkish city of Antakya.
Her overjoyed father was in tears and the grieving nation cheered an agonizingly rare piece of good news.
“My dear, my dear!” he called out as rescuers pulled the teen out of the rubble and the watching crowd broke into applause.
The 7.8-magnitude quake struck early Monday as people slept, in a region where many had already suffered loss and displacement due to Syria’s civil war.
Top aid officials were planning to visit affected areas with World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths both announcing trips.
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, travelled to strifetorn Aleppo, Syria.
“Communities struggling after years of fierce fighting are now crippled by the earthquake,” Spoljaric tweeted.
“As this tragic event unfolds, people’s desperate plight must be addressed.”
Aid reaches rebel areas
An aid convoy crossed the Turkish border into rebelheld northwestern Syria on Thursday, the first delivery into the area since the quake, an official at the Bab al-Hawa crossing told AFP.
The crossing is the only way UN assistance can reach civilians without going through areas controlled by Syrian government forces.