1.2 million left homeless in Turkey, as last-hope rescues are reported
BEIRUT — The devastating earthquakes in the Turkish-syrian border region one week ago have left 1.2 million people in southeastern Turkey homeless, Turkey’s presidential office said Monday, as probably the last survivors were found under rubble.
A 13-year-old boy was carried out on a stretcher alive Monday evening after spending 182 hours under rubble in the Hatay province of Turkey, state broadcaster TRT reported. Footage showed a volunteer holding his hand.
In the southeastern region of Adiyaman, a 6-year-old girl was also found earlier in the day, 178 hours after the quakes, said Turkey’s Defense Ministry. This is past the usual cut-off point for survival. The chances for further rescues are slim.
Survivors who are still being found now have had access to water, such as from rainwater or snow.
Normally, a person can go about 72 hours without water, after which it becomes life-threatening.
Meanwhile, around 176,000 tents have been set up in the worst-hit provinces of Turkey.
The disaster authority AFAD also said it had set up thousands of living containers.
Nearly 400,000 people have been evacuated from the earthquake zones, said the presidential office.
Inspections were being carried out by authorities to determine which buildings in the 10 affected provinces were still inhabitable. As of Monday afternoon, more than 7,500 buildings had already collapsed or had to be urgently demolished, said Banu Aslan, director of the construction department, according to the Anadolu news agency.
Thousands of buildings collapsed in Turkey after Monday’s two massive quakes.
The situation in warravaged Syria is even more precarious, given that many people were already displaced within the country.
The White Helmets rescue volunteer force said on Twitter: “The White Helmets declare official mourning throughout Syria, and we will fly flags at halfmast for seven days, starting today, Monday, February
13, to mourn the souls of the earthquake victims in #Syria and #Turkey, and we declare February 6 as a national day of mourning every year to commemorate the victims.”
The tweet indicates that the group has given up on finding anyone else alive.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths arrived in Aleppo on Monday, according to Syrian state news agency SANA, amid heavy criticism of delays in earthquake aid.
Griffiths met Syrian President Bashar Assad, SANA reported, with the two discussing the repercussions of the earthquake and the urgent humanitarian needs of the Syrian people to overcome these repercussions.