Turkey
Rescuers rejoice as more quake survivors emerge from rubble
Six relatives huddled in a small air pocket, day after day. A desperate teenager grew so thirsty that he drank his own urine. Two frightened sisters were comforted by a pop song as they waited for rescuers to free them.
These earthquake survivors were among more than a dozen people pulled out of the rubble alive Friday after spending over four days trapped in frigid darkness following the disaster that struck Turkey and Syria.
The unlikely rescues, coming so long after Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake brought down thousands of buildings, offered fleeting moments of joy amid a catastrophe that has killed nearly 24,000 people, injured at least 80,000 others and left millions homeless.
In the Mediterranean coastal city of Iskenderun, a crowd chanted “God is great!” as Haci Murat Kilinc and his wife, Raziye, were carried on stretchers to a waiting ambulance.
“You’ve been working so many hours, God bless you!” a relative of the couple told one of their saviors.
One rescue worker said that Kilinc had been joking with crew members while still trapped beneath the rubble, trying to boost their morale.
Two hours earlier in Kahramanmaras, the city closest to the epicenter, rescuers embraced and chanted their thanks to God after pulling a man from his collapsed home.
Also Read: Rescues in Turkey offer moments of relief in quake aftermath
In Adiyaman, a hard-hit city of more than a quarter-million people, rescuers and onlookers suppressed their joy so as not to frighten 4-year-old Yagiz Komsu as he emerged from the debris, according the HaberTurk television, which broadcast the rescue live.
To distract him, he was given a jelly bean. Teams later rescued his 27-year-old mother, Ayfer Komsu, who had a broken rib.
But the flurry of dramatic rescues could not obscure the devastation spread across a sprawling border region that is home to more than 13.5 million people. Entire neighborhoods of high-rises have been reduced to rubble, and the quake has already killed more people than Japan’s Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, with many more bodies yet to be recovered and counted.
Relatives wept and chanted as rescuers pulled 17-year-old Adnan Muhammed Korkut from a basement in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the quake’s epicenter. He had been trapped for 94 hours, forced to drink his own urine to survive.
“Thank God you arrived,” he said, embracing his mother and others who leaned down to kiss and hug him as he was being loaded into an ambulance.
For one of the rescuers, identified only as Yasemin, Adnan’s survival hit home hard.
“I have a son just like you,” she told him after giving him a warm hug. “I swear to you, I have not slept for four days. … I was trying to get you out.”
Elsewhere, HaberTurk television said rescuers had identified nine people trapped inside the remains of a high-rise apartment block in Iskenderun and pulled out six of them, including a woman who waved at onlookers as she was being carried away on a stretcher. The crowd shouted “God is great!” after she was brought out.
The building was only 600 feet (200 meters) from the Mediterranean Sea and narrowly avoided being flooded when the massive earthquake sent water surging into the city center.
Video of another rescue effort in Kahramanmaras showed an emergency worker playing a pop song on his smartphone to distract the two teenage sisters as they waited to be freed.
There were still more stories: A German team said it worked for more than 50 hours to free a woman from a collapsed house in Kirikhan. And a trapped woman could be heard speaking to a team trying to dig her out in video broadcast by HaberTurk television. She told her would-be rescuers that she had given up hope of being found — and prayed to be put to sleep because she was so cold. The station did not say where the operation was taking place.
Even though experts say trapped people can live for a week or more, the odds of finding more survivors were quickly waning.
Death loomed everywhere: Morgues and cemeteries were overwhelmed, and bodies wrapped in blankets, rugs and tarps lay in the streets of some cities.
Temperatures remained below freezing across the large region, and many people have no shelter. The Turkish government has distributed millions of hot meals, as well as tents and blankets, but was still struggling to reach many people in need.
The disaster compounded suffering in a region beset by Syria's 12-year civil war, which has displaced millions of people within the country and left them dependent on aid. The fighting sent millions more to seek refuge in Turkey.
The conflict has isolated many areas of Syria and complicated efforts to get aid in. The United Nations said the first earthquake-related aid convoy crossed from Turkey into northwestern Syria on Friday — a day after an aid shipment planned before the disaster arrived.
The U.N. refugee agency estimated that as many as 5.3 million people have been left homeless in Syria. Sivanka Dhanapala, the country representative in Syria for UNHCR, told reporters Friday that the agency is focusing on providing tents, plastic sheeting, thermal blankets, sleeping mats and winter clothing.
Syrian President Bashar Assad and his wife, Asmaa, visited survivors at the Aleppo University Hospital, according to Syrian state media. It was the leader's first public appearance in an affected area of the country since the disaster. He then visited rescuers in one of the city's hardest-hit areas.
Aleppo has been scarred by years of heavy bombardment and shelling — much of it by the forces of Assad and his ally, Russia — and it was among the cities most devastated by the earthquake.
The Syrian government also announced that it will allow aid to reach all parts of the country, including areas held by insurgent groups in the northwest.
Also Friday, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, declared a cease-fire in its separatist insurgency in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast, including some areas affected by the quake.
Turkey’s disaster-management agency said more than 20,200 people had been confirmed killed in the disaster so far in Turkey, with more than 80,000 injured.
More than 3,500 have been confirmed killed in Syria, bringing the total number of dead to nearly 24,000.
Some 12,000 buildings in Turkey have either collapsed or sustained serious damage, according to Turkey’s minister of environment and urban planning, Murat Kurum. Turkey's vice president, Fuat Oktay, said more than 1 million people were being housed in temporary shelters.
Engineers suggested that the scale of the devastation was partly explained by lax enforcement of building codes.
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Alsayed reported from Bab al-Hawa, Syria. Bilginsoy reported from Istanbul. Associated Press journalists Robert Badendieck in Istanbul; Mehmet Guzel in Antakya, Turkey; Emrah Gurel and Yakup Paksoy in Adiyaman, Turkey; Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; Bassem Mroue and Abby Sewell in Beirut; Salar Salim in Erbil, Iraq; Hogir al-Abdo in Manbij, Syria; and David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Earthquake compounds Turkish leader’s woes as election nears
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power 20 years ago riding a wave of public outrage toward the previous government’s handling of a deadly earthquake.
Now, three months away from an election, Erdogan’s political future could hinge on how the public perceives his government’s response to a similarly devastating natural disaster.
“It is going to be a big challenge for Erdogan, who has established a brand for himself as an autocratic figure but an efficient one that gets the job done,” said Soner Cagaptay, a Turkey expert at the Washington Institute and the author of several books on Erdogan.
The aftermath of a massive earthquake isn’t the only parallel to the election of 2002. Back then, Turkey was in the midst of a financial crisis that was punishing its economy.
Today, Turkey’s economy is being hammered by skyrocketing inflation, and Erdogan has faced widespread criticism for his handling of the problem, which has left millions of poor and middle class people struggling to make ends meet.
Also read: Hope dims for families in Turkey as rescue turns to recovery
Erdogan’s political rivals have already begun criticizing his government’s response to the earthquake, saying that over the course of two decades he failed to prepare the country for the inevitable. Experts point to lax enforcement of building codes as a major reason why this week’s quakes were so deadly. But with less than 100 days before the election, Erdogan’s rivals have yet to put forth a candidate to run against him.
The memory of how Bulent Ecevit, the late prime minister, was undone by his poor handling of financial and natural disasters two decades ago must be on Erdogan’s mind as he tries to contain the twin problems he faces today, analysts say.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck on Feb. 6 was followed nine hours later by another powerful quake, killing more than 24,000 people in both Turkey and Syria.
The devastation spreads across a wide swath of Turkey, affecting 10 provinces in the country’s southeast, and it has strained the ability of domestic and foreign crews to quickly execute rescue efforts. In the first few days after the quake, Turkish television and social media showed people waiting helplessly beside piles of debris in frigid conditions, or using their bare hands to claw through rubble.
“We’ll still have to see the outcome of the relief efforts, whether subzero temperatures continue, casualties increase, whether international assistance which is flowing could make a difference,” said Cagaptay.
Erdogan, who toured the region this week, conceded shortcomings in the initial stages of the response but insisted that everything was now under control.
“If the disaster response is strong, the ruling administration will be rewarded, likely in the polls — if it is poor, the opposite,” Timothy Ash, an analyst at BlueBay Asset Management in London, wrote in an email.
Ecevit blamed the poor response after the 1999 quake that killed some 18,000 people on the vastness of the destruction. Similarly, Erdogan said the response to this week’s quake — which he described as the “strongest in the history of this geography” — has been hampered by winter weather and the destruction of a key airport, making it difficult to quickly reach people trapped in the rubble.
“It is not possible to be prepared for such a disaster,” Erdogan said, promising that “we will not leave any of our citizens uncared for.”
While the bumpy quake response so far hasn’t been great for Erdogan’s reputation, analysts say there is time for him to turn things around before the election set for May 14.
“He has the levers of state at his command and Turkish politics was hardly a level playing field before the earthquake,” Hamish Kinnear, Middle East and North Africa analyst for risk-intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, said in an email.
Right after the quake, Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency, giving him the power to “lavish public spending” in those areas, said Kinnear, who believes an Erdogan victory is still likely.
Erdogan has promised to donate 10,000 Turkish lira ($530) to people affected by the quake and to subsidize their rent. On Friday he said an additional 100 billion lira ($5.3 billion) would be allocated for post-quake efforts.
In the last presidential and parliamentary elections in 2018, Erdogan and his alliance for parliament overwhelmingly won in seven of the 10 provinces devastated by this week’s earthquakes. And in recent years he has pushed through changes that eliminated checks and balances between different branches of government, concentrating more power within the presidency.
In Turkey, freedom of expression is limited and the government largely controls the media, which has meant television stations mostly show scenes of “miracle rescues,” while appearing to censor scenes of hardship.
In the face of crushing inflation, Erdogan has increased the minimum wage, pensions and civil-servant salaries. While these steps may have been popular with voters, others have earned him severe criticism.
For example, he has insisted on fighting inflation by repeatedly lowering interest rates to stimulate growth — a strategy that mainstream economists around the world have said only makes the problem worse.
For now, all eyes are on the earthquake response.
In the hard-hit city of Adiyaman, Ahmet Aydin, a resident who lost six relatives as well as his home, his shop and his car in the earthquake, complained about the slow emergency response. But he said he would never stop supporting Erdogan — highlighting the Turkish leader’s potentially lasting appeal.
“We trust our president,” Aydin said. “He would never leave us alone, he would never leave us hungry or thirsty. May Allah protect him.”
Erdogan’s political rivals tell a different story.
This week, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, blamed the devastation on Erdogan’s two-decade rule.
“Let me be very clear; if there one person responsible for this process, it is Erdogan,” Kilicdaroglu said in a video address. “For 20 years, this government has not prepared the country for an earthquake.”
He also accused the government of misspending taxes imposed in the wake of the 1999 quakes that were intended to prepare the country for future disasters.
As the death toll continues to rise with each passing day, Erdogan says the country’s leaders should strive to be above the political fray.
“This time is one of unity and standing together,” he said on Wednesday. “I cannot tolerate how in a time like this such filthy and negative campaigns are led for the sake of basic, political interests.”
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Bilginsoy reported from Istanbul.
Bangladesh to send 46-member search-and-rescue team, relief to quake-hit Turkey
Bangladesh will send a 46-member specialist search and rescue team and relief materials, including medicines, to Turkey Wednesday following Monday's earthquake, one of the deadliest in the world in more than a decade.
Search teams from more than two dozen countries joined tens of thousands of local emergency personnel, and aid pledges have poured in from around the world in Turkey and Syria after the catastrophic earthquake that razed thousands of buildings in the countries, and the death toll kept rising, surpassing 11,000 today.
However, the scale of destruction from the 7.8 magnitude quake and its powerful aftershocks was so immense that many are still waiting for help.
Lieutenant Colonel Md Ruhul Amin will lead the search and rescue team from Bangladesh. The team comprises 34 members from the army and 12 from the fire service.
A special flight of C-130J aircraft of the air force will be operated on the Dhaka-Ankara-Dhaka route to carry the rescue team and emergency relief and medical supplies.
The special flight will leave Dhaka today and will return home on February 15, the Inter Services Public Relation Directorate said.
With hope fading to find survivors, stretched rescue teams toiled Wednesday in Turkey and Syria, searching for signs of life in the rubble of thousands of buildings.
Rescue crews braved freezing overnight temperatures in quake-hit areas in both countries in hopes of reaching more survivors and to pull more bodies from the rubble.
Turkey and Syria earthquake: Bangladesh announces one-day state mourning on February 9
Dhaka, Jan 8 (UNB)-Bangladesh will observe one-day state mourning on Thursday (February 9) to condole the huge loss of lives in a catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria recently.
The government issued a gazette in this regard on Wednesday.
The national flags will be kept half-mast at all government, semi-government and autonomous organisations, educational institutions, government and non-government buildings and Bangladesh missions abroad, according to the gazette .
Special prayers will be arranged for eternal peace of the departed souls.
Bangladesh is planning to send two teams to Turkey to join the rescue efforts there after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed and injured many.
With hope fading to find survivors, stretched rescue teams toiled through the night in Turkey and Syria, searching for signs of life in the rubble of thousands of buildings toppled by a catastrophic earthquake. The death toll rose Wednesday to more than 11,000 in the deadliest quake worldwide in more than a decade, reports AP.
Death toll from catastrophic earthquake hitting Turkey, Syria goes beyond 20,700
Rescuers pulled more survivors from beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings Thursday, but hopes were starting to fade of finding many more people alive more than three days after a catastrophic earthquake and series of aftershocks hit Turkey and Syria, killing more than 20, 700.
Emergency crews working through the night in the city of Antakya were able to pull a young girl, Hazal Guner, from the ruins of a building and also rescued her father, Soner Guner, two hours later, news agency IHA reported.
As they prepared the man to be loaded into an ambulance, rescue crews told him that his daughter was alive and they were taking him to the same field hospital for treatment.
“I love you all,” he faintly whispered to the rescue team.
In Diyarbakir, east of Antakya, rescuers freed an injured woman from a collapsed building in the early morning hours but found the three people next to her in the rubble dead, the DHA news agency reported.
In addition to 12,873 people killed in Turkey, the country's disaster management agency said more than 60,000 have been injured. On the Syrian side of the border, 3,162 have been reported dead and more than 5,000 injured.
Tens of thousands are thought to have lost their homes. In Antakya, former residents of a collapsed building huddled around an outdoor fire overnight into Thursday, wrapping blankets tightly around themselves to try and stay warm.
Serap Arslan said many people remained under the rubble of the nearby building, including her mother and brother. She said machinery only started to move some of the heavy concrete on Wednesday.
“We tried to clear the debris on our own, but unfortunately our efforts have been insufficient,” the 45-year-old said.
Selen Ekimen wiped tears from her face with gloved hands as she explained that both her parents and brother were still buried.
"There's been no sound from them for days,” she said. “Nothing.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was scheduled to travel Thursday to the quake-hit provinces of Gaziantep, Osmaniye and Kilis amid ongoing criticism that the government’s response has been too slow.
Experts said the survival window for those trapped under the rubble or otherwise unable to obtain basic necessities was closing rapidly. At the same time, they said it was too soon to abandon hope.
“The first 72 hours are considered to be critical,” said Steven Godby, a natural hazards expert at Nottingham Trent University in England. “The survival ratio on average within 24 hours is 74%, after 72 hours it is 22% and by the fifth day it is 6%.”
According to the disaster management agency, more than 110,000 rescue personnel were now taking part in the effort and more than 5,500 vehicles, including tractors, cranes, bulldozers and excavators had been shipped.
The task is monumental, however, with thousands of buildings toppled by the earthquake.
Erdogan, who faces a tough battle for reelection in May, acknowledged problems with the emergency response to Monday's 7.8-magnitude quake, but said the winter weather had been a factor. The earthquake also destroyed the runway at Hatay's airport, further disrupting the response.
“It is not possible to be prepared for such a disaster," Erdogan said as he visited the hard-hit province of Hatay on Wednesday. “We will not leave any of our citizens uncared for.” He also hit back at critics, saying "dishonorable people" were spreading “lies and slander” about the government's actions.
The disaster comes at a sensitive time for Erdogan, who faces an economic downturn and high inflation. Perceptions that his government mismanaged the crisis could hurt his standing. He said the government would distribute 10,000 Turkish lira ($532) to affected families.
Teams from more than two dozen countries have joined the local emergency personnel in the effort. But the scale of destruction from the quake and its powerful aftershocks was so immense and spread over such a wide area that many people were still awaiting help.
The region was already beset by more than a decade of civil war in Syria. Millions have been displaced within Syria itself, and millions more have sought refuge in Turkey.
In Syria, aid efforts have been hampered by the ongoing war and the isolation of the rebel-held region along the border, which is surrounded by Russia-backed government forces. Syria itself is an international pariah under Western sanctions linked to the war.
The earthquake’s toll has already outstripped that of a 7.8-magnitude quake in Nepal in 2015, when 8,800 died. A 2011 earthquake in Japan triggered a tsunami, killing nearly 20,000 people.
Turkey, Syria quake deaths pass 9,500; deadliest in decade
Thinly stretched rescue teams worked through the night in Turkey and Syria, pulling more bodies from the rubble of thousands of buildings toppled by a catastrophic earthquake. The death toll rose Wednesday to more than 9,500, making the quake the deadliest in more than a decade.
That makes it the deadliest since a 2011 earthquake in Japan triggered a tsunami, killing nearly 20,000 people.
Amid calls for the government to send more help to the disaster zone, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was to travel to town of Pazarcik, the epicenter of the quake, and to the worst-hit province of Hatay on Wednesday.
Turkey now has some 60,000 aid personnel in the quake-hit zone, but with the devastation so widespread many are still waiting for help.
Nearly two days after the magnitude 7.8 quake struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, rescuers pulled a 3-year-old boy, Arif Kaan, from beneath the rubble of a collapsed apartment building in Kahramanmaras, a city not far from the epicenter.
With the boy's lower body trapped under slabs of concrete and twisted rebar, emergency crews lay a blanket over his torso to protect him from below-freezing temperatures as they carefully cut the debris away from him, mindful of the possibility of triggering another collapse.
The boy's father, Ertugrul Kisi, who himself had been rescued earlier, sobbed as his son was pulled free and loaded into an ambulance.
“For now, the name of hope in Kahramanmaras is Arif Kaan,” a Turkish television reporter proclaimed as the dramatic rescue was broadcast to the country.
A few hours later, rescuers pulled 10-year-old Betul Edis from the rubble of her home in the city of Adiyaman. Amid applause from onlookers, her grandfather kissed her and spoke softly to her as she was loaded on an ambulance.
But such stories were few more than two days after Monday's pre-dawn earthquake, which hit a huge area and brought down thousands of buildings, with frigid temperatures and ongoing aftershocks complicating rescue efforts.
Search teams from more than two dozen countries joined the Turkish emergency personnel, and aid pledges poured in.
But with devastation spread multiple several cities and towns — some isolated by Syria’s ongoing conflict — voices crying from within mounds of rubble fell silent, and despair grew from those still waiting for help.
In Syria, the shaking toppled thousands of buildings and heaped more misery on a region wracked by the country's 12-year civil war and refugee crisis.
On Monday afternoon in a northwestern Syrian town, residents found a crying newborn still connected by the umbilical cord to her deceased mother. The baby was the only member of her family to survive a building collapse in the small town of Jinderis, relatives told The Associated Press.
Turkey is home to millions of refugees from the war. The affected area in Syria is divided between government-controlled territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, where millions rely on humanitarian aid.
As many as 23 million people could be affected in the quake-hit region, according to Adelheid Marschang, a senior emergencies officer with the World Health Organization, who called it a “crisis on top of multiple crises.”
Many survivors in Turkey have had to sleep in cars, outside or in government shelters.
“We don’t have a tent, we don’t have a heating stove, we don’t have anything. Our children are in bad shape. We are all getting wet under the rain and our kids are out in the cold,” Aysan Kurt, 27, told the AP. “We did not die from hunger or the earthquake, but we will die freezing from the cold.”
Erdogan said 13 million of the country's 85 million people were affected, and he declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces. More than 8,000 people have been pulled from the debris in Turkey, and some 380,000 have taken refuge in government shelters or hotels, authorities said.
Turkey’s disaster management agency said the country’s death toll had risen to 7,108, bringing the overall total to 9,638, including fatalities reported in neighboring Syria, since Monday’s earthquake and multiple aftershocks. Another 40,910 people have been injured.
The death toll in government-held areas of Syria has climbed to 1,250, with 2,054 injured, according to the Health Ministry. At least 1,280 people have died in the rebel-held northwest, according to volunteer first responders known as the White Helmets, with more than 2,600 injured.
In Syria, aid efforts have been hampered by the ongoing war and the isolation of the rebel-held region along the border, which is surrounded by Russia-backed government forces. Syria itself is an international pariah under Western sanctions linked to the war.
The United Nations said it was “exploring all avenues” to get supplies to the rebel-held northwest.
The region sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in similarly powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Turkey in 1999.
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Alsayed reported from Bab al-Hawa, Syria. Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. David Rising in Bangkok, and Robert Badendieck in Istanbul contributed to this story.
Fire Service team going to Turkey to be part of rescue effort
A 12-member rescue team from the Fire Service and Civil Defense (DSCD) is being sent to Turkey to conduct search and rescue operations in the aftermath of Monday's horrific earthquake.
The 12-member rescue team of the FSCD has been prepared to be sent along with the joint support team sent by the Bangladesh Armed Forces Department on instructions of the Prime Minister.
This is the FSCD's first overseas trip to conduct rescue operations in the international arena.
Due to the terrible earthquake that occurred in Turkey on Monday, international help has been sought by the Turkish government. In view of this, the Prime Minister has given instructions to send a combined aid team to Turkey under the Bangladesh Armed Forces. In the light of the instructions, Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defense Directorate Brigadier General Md. Main Uddin has prepared the 12-member rescue team.
It is noted that each of the 12-member rescue team are internationally trained in conducting search and rescue operations in collapsed buildings as per International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) standards.
The Director General of FSCD Directorate said in a response that this is the first foreign trip of the Fire Service to conduct rescue operations in the international arena. This is a shining example of capacity building of fire service under the current government.
Read more: Bangladesh plans to send medical, rescue teams to Türkiye: MoFA spokesperson
This is an incredible recognition for the Fire Service and Civil Defence. Every member of the Fire Service and Civil Defense is proud of it. I believe that all the members of the fire service will repay the trust of the honorable Prime Minister with their best.
Rescuers in Turkey and war-ravaged Syria searched through the cold night into Tuesday, hoping to pull more survivors from the rubble after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 4,000 people and toppled thousands of buildings across a wide region.
Authorities feared the death toll from Monday’s pre-dawn earthquake and aftershocks would keep climbing as rescuers looked for survivors among tangles of metal and concrete spread across the region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war and refugee crisis, reports AP.
Engineers, search dogs sent to Turkey, Syria after quake
Structural engineers, soldiers, paramedics and handlers with trained search dogs are heading to Turkey and Syria to help locate and rescue survivors of Monday’s earthquake. Here's a glance at the assistance that's being provided:
— The European Union has mobilized search and rescue teams to help Turkey, while the bloc's Copernicus satellite system has been activated to provide emergency mapping services. At least 13 member countries have offered assistance.
— The United States is coordinating immediate assistance to Turkey, including teams to support search and rescue efforts. In California, nearly 100 Los Angeles County firefighters and structural engineers, along with six specially trained dogs, were being sent to Turkey.
— Russian rescue teams from the Emergencies Ministry were sent to Syria, where Russian military deployed in that country already has sent 10 units comprising 300 people to help clear debris and search for survivors. The Russian military has set up points to distribute humanitarian assistance. Russia also has offered help to Turkey, which has been accepted.
— War-ravaged Syria called for the United Nations and its members to help with rescue efforts, health services, shelter and food aid. Both government-held territory and the last opposition-held enclave were damaged by the earthquake.
— The International Committee of the Red Cross has sent enough surgical material to treat 100 people to one of the public hospitals in the Syrian city of Aleppo. More medical equipment is on its ways to Aleppo, Latakia and Tartous. The Red Cross also is donating canned food, blankets, mattresses and other essential items for distribution in the many shelters being set-up in affected areas.
— The Israeli army is sending a search and rescue team of 150 engineers, medical personnel and other aid workers to render lifesaving aid in Turkey. The two countries are mending ties after years of tensions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has also approved a request for humanitarian aid for Syria. Israel and Syria do not have diplomatic relations.
— Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said the Palestinian Authority will dispatch two humanitarian missions to assist in Syria and Turkey. The aid missions will include civil defense and medical teams.
— Neighbor and historic rival Greece is sending Turkey a team of 21 rescuers, two rescue dogs and a special rescue vehicle, together with a structural engineer, five doctors and seismic planning experts in a military transport plane.
— The Lebanese army says it will send a team of 15 members of the miltiary’s engineering regiment to neighboring Syria to help in rescue operations in government-held parts of the country. Tuesday’s announcement came a day after the army sent 20 members of the same regiment to Turkey to help rescuers there who are racing to find survivors.
— One of Libya’s rival governments said it will dispatch a 55-member team to Turkey to help in rescue efforts. The government of Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibah said the team would include rescuers, medical members along with four dogs.
— Spanish medical workers will set up a field hospital in Turkey to treat the wounded. Spain has mobilized troops and drones from the country’s Military Emergency Unit to Malatya airport, where the Turkish authorities have installed an international aid center. Spain will also contribute to aid efforts through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Spain will also contribute to rescue efforts in Syria through NGOs operating there.
— Germany’s THW civil protection agency is sending a 50-member rescue team to Turkey on Tuesday. A team from the group International Search and Rescue Germany, with 42 experts and seven dogs, has arrived in Turkey and is heading to Kirikhan, near the Syrian border. Germany also has been readying deliveries of emergency generators, tents, blankets and water treatment equipment.
— South Korea will dispatch a 60-person search and rescue team and 50 troops and send medical supplies to Turkey. The government also says it is providing an initial $5 million in humanitarian support, and the Gyeonggi provincial government plans to provide $1 million in humanitarian assistance.
— Pakistan has sent one flight of relief supplies and another carrying a 50-member search and rescue team. The government says daily aid flights to Syria and Turkey will start Wednesday.
— Britain is sending 76 search-and-rescue specialists with equipment and dogs, as well as an emergency medical team, to Turkey. The U.K. also says it’s in contact with the U.N. about getting support to victims in Syria.
— India is sending 100 search and rescue personnel from its Natural Disaster Response Force to Turkey, as well as specially trained dog squads and equipment for relief efforts. Medical teams with trained doctors, paramedics and essential medicines are also ready, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
— Taiwan is sending 130 rescue squad members, five search dogs and 13 tons of equipment to Turkey. Interior Minister Lin Yu-chang said the first group left for Turkey late Monday and another was sent Tuesday. Taiwan earlier said it would donate $200,000 to Turkey.
— Swiss rescue dog service REDOG is sending 22 rescuers with 14 dogs to Turkey. The government said it would also send 80 search and rescue specialists to the country, including army disaster experts.
— The Czech Republic is sending Turkey a team of 68 rescuers, including firefighters, doctors, structural engineers and also experts with sniffer dogs.
— Japan is sending a group of about 75 rescue workers to Turkey.
— Austria has offered to send 84 soldiers from a military disaster relief unit to Turkey.
— Poland is sending Turkey 76 firefighters and eight trained dogs, with equipment.
— Romania is sending specialized personnel and material to Turkey on two military aircraft.
— Croatia is sending 40 personnel and 10 dogs, rescue equipment and vans to Turkey.
— Serbia is sending 21 rescuers and three liaison officers to Turkey.
— Montenegro is sending at least 24 firefighters to Turkey.
— Moldova's president says 55 rescue workers have been sent to Turkey.
— France is dispatching rescue teams to Turkey.
— Jordan is sending emergency aid to Syria and Turkey on the orders of King Abdullah II.
— Mexico’s foreign affairs secretary said the country will send equipment and rescue specialists to Turkey.
— Egypt has pledged urgent humanitarian aid to Turkey.
— Italy’s Civil Protection Agency has offered assistance to Turkey. A firefighting team was preparing to leave from Pisa, and the Italian military says transport flights will carry equipment as well as health and other personnel.
— New Zealand is providing $632,000 to the Turkish Red Crescent and $316,000 to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to deliver items such as food, tents and blankets, as well as provide medical assistance and psychological support.
— China’s Red Cross Society is providing the Turkish Red Crescent and the Syrian Red Crescent with $200,000 each in humanitarian assistance.
Bangladeshi student in Turkey missing after earthquake
A Bangladeshi student named Md Golam Syed Rinku has been reported missing in the wake of the powerful earthquake that rocked Türkiye and Syria along their borders early Monday, toppling hundreds of buildings and killing more than 2,800 people.
Rinku is from Bogura, Mohammed Nore-Alam, consul general of Bangladesh in Istanbul, told UNB.
"Nur, one of the two missing students, has been found. However, Rinku is still missing," he added.
Rinku's friends identified him as an undergraduate student but could not provide any more details.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka is in touch with the Embassy of Bangladesh in Ankara.
"We are in touch with our mission," MoFA spokesperson Seheli Sabrin told UNB.
Authorities feared the death toll would keep climbing as rescuers searched through tangles of metal and concrete for survivors in a region beset by more than a decade of Syria's civil war and a refugee crisis, AP reported.
Read more: Powerful quake rocks Turkey and Syria, kills more than 2,800
UN agencies launch emergency response as powerful quake rocks Turkey, Syria
After a massive earthquake hit southern Türkiye and northern Syria in the early hours of Monday, prompting fears of a humanitarian crisis, the UN aid agencies scrambled to help many thousands of reported victims, including those still believed to be buried under the rubble.
The initial 7.8 magnitude quake struck close to Gaziantep, followed by another 7.5 magnitude tremor several hours later.
In a situation overview, the UN aid coordination office OHCHA, said there had been "close to 2,000 deaths reported" in the two countries impacted, with at least 78 aftershocks reported, ahead of the second earthquake.
The Turkish government issued a Level 4 alarm, calling for international assistance. Northwest Syria is home to around 4.1 million people who rely on humanitarian assistance, the majority, being women and children.
Syrian communities have been hit by an ongoing cholera outbreak together with harsh winter weather. So far there is a 48 percent funding gap for the last quarter of 2022, with $371 million pledged, out of a required total of just over $800 million.
Emergency medical teams from the World Health Organization (WHO) have been given the green light to provide essential care for the injured and most vulnerable, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted.
Specialist UN surge teams from the Office of UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) also tweeted that they were "ready to deploy," amid multiple horrifying social media posts showing huge buildings collapsing in heavily built-up areas.
The OCHA underscored that the initial 7.8 magnitude quake hit at the height of winter. The epicentre was in southern Türkiye, where nearby Gaziantep – an important UN aid hub for northern Syria – was among the cities affected.
Although the earthquake was felt as far away as Lebanon, closer to home, northern Syria's Aleppo and Idlib also reportedly saw thousands of buildings collapse, including two hospitals.
Humanitarian needs in northern Syria are already huge, as the region is home to millions of people displaced by the country's long-running war.
Snow and rain have hampered the work of rescue teams, whose families are also among those believed to be buried under collapsed buildings.
After an official request for international assistance from Ankara, the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, confirmed that it was ready to support the emergency response.
Echoing that message of support, the UN migration agency, IOM, said its warehouse in Gaziantep had prepared non-food items and essential relief ready to be deployed. "The IOM teams are also doing on-the-ground assessments to inform the response," said spokesperson Safa Msehli.
Read more: What to know about the big quake that hit Turkey, Syria