AGONY..& MIRACLES
»»Turkey-syria death toll hits 7,200 amid fears it will reach 20,000
A BABY girl was born under the rubble of the Turkey-syria quake yesterday, an incredible gift of life amid the death and destruction.
But, heartbreakingly, the tot’s mother and family sadly perished.
As the number of those who died shot past 7,200 an international rescue effort was under way to try to save thousands of people still buried.
They faced a race against time as experts fear the death toll could hit 20,000 with plunging temperatures and a danger of multiple aftershocks. At least three Britons are missing feared dead in Monday’s 7.8 magnitude quake, which ripped through around 200 miles of the Middle East.
Rescuers plucked the baby girl from beneath a collapsed five-storey block of flats in Jindires, Syria, 10 hours after the earthquake struck.
The tot was still attached to her mother Afraa Abu Hadiya by her umbilical cord. Rescuers separated the pair and the girl was rushed to hospital where she was last night recovering in an incubator. Doctors said she was bruised but stable.
In Kahramanmaras, Turkey, grieving father Mesut Hancer was seen clinging to his 15-year-old daughter Irmak’s hand as she lay dead beneath the rubble.
Nearby, five-year-old Ayse Kubra Gunes was pulled from the wreckage of the six-storey building where she lived. As she lay trapped, her father spoke to her and she bravely replied: “I’m fine here. I’m fine, Dad.”
Ayse was finally rescued after seven hours. A 15-month-old baby was also rescued from the rubble in the city.
Specialists from across
Europe, Albania, Montenegro, Jordan and China have also offered their services to boost the 24,400 searchand-rescue personnel already deployed by Turkey.
Even war-ravaged Ukraine pledged an 87-strong team to help out. Qatar offered 10,000 container shelters for people left homeless.
Around 380,000 survivors are sheltering in government dormitories or hotels in Turkey.
So far, 3,294 search-and-rescue teams from 14 countries have arrived to help the shattered region. They
The impacts are going to go on for months and months. It requires a sustained response DR MIKE RYAN WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION EMERGENCIES HEAD
being transferred to the worst-hit provinces of Hatay, Kahramanmaras and Adiyaman across Turkey.
But disaster management agency official Orhan Tatar said: “The adverse weather conditions continue in the region. Therefore from time to time it may be difficult to transport these teams to the region.”
Ten ships were helping the rescue efforts, by transporting the wounded to hospitals, mainly from the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun.
Syrian Arab Red Crescent chief
Khaled Hboubati urged the US and EU to lift years-old sanctions imposed on the war-torn country.
He said: “This is the most important thing for us.”
World Health Organisation emergencies head Dr Mike Ryan said: “The scale of this disaster requires a sustained response.
“And the secondary impacts are going to go on for months and months, especially for those people already affected, already vulnerable for many other reasons in the region, and especially in Syria.” Turkish Preswere ident Recept Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in 10 afflicted areas across Turkey and ordered seven days of mourning.
He said 13 million of the country’s 85 million were affected by the earthquakes.
For the entire quake-hit area, that number could be as high as 23 million, according to Adelheid Marschang of the World Health Organisation.
“This is a crisis on top of multiple crises,” Mr Marschang added.
Teams from nearly 30 countries headed for Turkey or Syria. As help flooded in, Turkey said it would only allow vehicles carrying aid to enter the worst-hit provinces.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverley said 35 other British nationals have been affected by the earthquake but that there was a “low”expectation of “large-scale casualties”. A team of 77 British search-and-rescue experts has joined the international effort.
King Charles said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has been affected by this appalling natural disaster.”