Earthquake
Turkey: Couple saved 296 hours after quake, but children die
A couple and their son were pulled alive from under a collapsed apartment building more than 12 days after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake ravaged parts of Turkey and Syria, although the child later died at a hospital, Turkish state media reported Saturday.
A foreign search team from Kyrgyzstan rescued Samir Muhammed Accar, 49, his wife, Ragda, 40, and their 12-year-old son while digging through the rubble of the apartment building in the southern Turkish city of Antakya, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
They were removed at about 11:30 a.m. local time (8:30 GMT), or 296 hours after the Feb. 6 quake, and quickly transferred to ambulances. TV footage showing medics fixing an IV drip to the man’s arm as he lay on a stretcher.
One of the Kyrgyz rescuers said the team also found the bodies of two dead children. Anadolu later reported they also were the children of Samir Muhammad and Ragda Accar.
Also Read: Turkish teen filmed ‘last moments’ from quake-hit apartment
During a visit to Antakya, the capital of Hatay province, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the father was conscious and being treated at Mustafa Kemal University Hospital. Anadolu published photos showing American TV personality and former U.S. Senate candidate Mehmet Oz visiting the recovering man.
Reporting on their conversation, Anadolu said Samir Muhammed Accar described how he survived the ordeal by drinking his own urine. He also told Dr. Oz that his children responded to his voice for the first two or three days but he heard nothing from after that.
Hatay province, where Antakya is located, was one of areas hit hardest by the earthquake, which killed at least 40,642 people in Turkey and 3,688 in Syria.
Search and rescue operations are continuing in Turkey, although the head of the country’s disaster response agency said they would end on Sunday.
Aid convoys to keep crossing into Syria for as long as needs are there: UN
A steady flow of UN aid trucks filled with vital humanitarian relief, continues to cross the border from southern Türkiye into northwest Syria to help communities enduring terrible trauma caused by the February 6 earthquake and will continue every day, UN aid teams said Friday.
Since February 9, 143 trucks have passed through the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam border crossings, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “The movements continue today, they continue over the weekend and will continue every day for as long as the needs are there,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told journalists in Geneva.
Asked about earthquake damage to roads leading to the aid corridors, the OCHA spokesperson referred to information that “all the roads through all the crossing points are passable and you can drive there…I was myself at Bab al-Hawa a few days ago and the trucks were indeed rolling across.”
Amid massive devastation in both Türkiye and Syria after the double quake strike, relief workers continue to stress that the full extent of the disaster is still unfolding.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Thursday said earthquake damage in Syria threatens “immediate and longer-term food security” in the country.
In Türkiye, it’s estimated that more than 15 million people have been affected, while in Syria, 8.8 million have been impacted. Humanitarian assistance is urgently needed, as relief teams have seen first-hand in Aleppo, particularly after more than a decade of war.
“I was quite overwhelmed by not only the magnitude of the destruction but the loss that was inflicted on families, you know, during only 60 seconds,” said Fabrizio Carboni, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Regional Director for the Near and Middle East.
“For the first time, I saw that there was not only a crack, and cracks in the buildings, but for the first time I really saw that our colleagues, the people you talked to in Syria, they were really wounded, and something is broken.”
As part of the UN-wide response, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported Thursday that it stepped up its emergency response to nearly half a million quake-affected people in Türkiye and Syria, providing hot meals, emergency ready-to-eat food packages and family food rations.
“Families tell me they left everything behind when the earthquake hit, running for their lives. WFP’s food is a lifeline for them; while they think about their next steps in the destruction left by the earthquake, their children can eat,” said Corinne Fleischer, WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and East Europe.
She added: “We have scaled up rapidly and requests for more food are coming every day from municipalities and communities. We are there for them, but WFP can’t do it alone. We urgently appeal for funding to help us reach those in need.”
Needs remain massive but the international response is gaining momentum, both in Türkiye and Syria, confirmed Caroline Holt, global director for operations at The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC): “In Türkiye, we’re very much supporting the Turkish Red Crescent on the ground to support shelter needs, with food, with wash, with health and also with cash.”
In Syria, the IFRC is working with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to support people with basic needs and household items, including health, psychosocial support and clean water. With cholera already present in Syria, access to safe water “is absolutely critical to avoid that second potential disaster, that second health disaster unfolding”, Holt said.
UN-led flash appeals for both countries were issued this week – a $1 billion request for Türkiye to help 5.2 million people for three months and a $397 million humanitarian appeal for nearly five million people in Syria – jump-started by a $50 million funding injection from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund.
Highlighting the need for sustained assistance in the region, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said more help was needed for farming communities impacted by the crisis.
They are still reeling from the disaster, not least those who have opened their homes to survivors from nearby towns and cities.
Urgent needs include assessing the extent of damage to agriculture and food supply chains, including irrigation systems, roads, markets and storage capacity.
Read more: Syria's Assad could reap rewards from aid crossing deal
Turkish teen filmed ‘last moments’ from quake-hit apartment
A 17-year-old high school student has captured Turkish hearts after he filmed a farewell message to his loved ones as he was trapped under the rubble of his home during last week’s earthquake.
Taha Erdem and his family were fast asleep when a 7.8 magnitude quake hit their hometown of Adiyaman in the early hours of Feb. 6.
Taha was abruptly woken by violent tremors shaking the four-story apartment building in a blue-collar neighborhood of the central Anatolian city.
Within 10 seconds, Taha, his mother, father and younger brother and sister were plunging downward with the building.
He found himself alone and trapped under tons of rubble, with waves of powerful aftershocks shifting the debris, squeezing his space amid the mangled mess of concrete and twisted steel. Taha took out his cellphone and began recording a final goodbye, hoping it would be discovered after his death.
“I think this is the last video I will ever shoot for you,” he said from the tight space, his phone shaking in his hand as tremors rocked the collapsed building.
Showing remarkable resilience and bravery for a teenager believing he was speaking his last words, he lists his injuries and speaks of his regrets and the things he hopes to do if he emerges alive. During the video, the screams of other trapped people can be heard.
“We are still shaking. Death, my friends, comes at a time when one is least expecting it.” says Taha, before reciting a Muslim prayer in Arabic.
Also Read: Key developments in the aftermath of the Turkey, Syria quake
“There are many things that I regret. May God forgive me of all my sins. If I get out of here alive today there are many things that I want to do. We are still shaking, yes. My hand isn’t shaking, it’s just the earthquake.”
The teen goes on to recount that he believes his family are dead, along with many others in the city, and that he willsoon join them.
But Taha was destined to be among some of the first saved from the destroyed building. He was pulled from the rubble two hours later by neighbors and taken to an aunt’s home.
Ten hours after the quake, his parents and siblings were also saved by local residents who dug at the wreck of the building with their bare hands and whatever tools they could find.
When The Associated Press spoke to the family on Thursday they were living in a government-provided tent, along with hundreds of thousands of others who survived the disaster that hit southern Turkey and north Syria, killing more than 43,000.
Also Read: Turkey quake revives debate over nuclear plant being built
“This is my home,” said Taha’s mother Zeliha, 37, as she watched excavators digging up their old life and dumping it into heavy trucks.
“Boom-boom-boom, the building went down floor by floor on top of us,” she recalled, describing how she had kept yelling her son’s name while trapped under the debris in the hope that all five of them could die together as a family.
The Erdems’ younger children — daughter Semanur, 13, and 9-year-old son Yigit Cinar — were sleeping in their parents’ room when the quake hit.
But Taha could not hear his mother’s calls through the mass of concrete. Nor could she hear her son’s cries in the dark, and both believed the other was lying dead in the destroyed building.
It was only when Zeliha, her husband Ali, 47, a hospital cleaner, and the other children were taken to her sister’s home that they realized Taha had survived.
“The world was mine at that moment,” Zeliha said. “I have nothing, but I have my kids.”
The story of the Erdem family is one of many emotional tales of human fortitude to emerge from the widespread disaster area. Many vividly recount the horrors of being trapped beneath their homes.
Ibrahim Zakaria, a 23-year-old Syrian who was rescued in the coastal Syrian town of Jableh on Feb. 10, told the AP that he survived by licking water dripping down the wall next to him, slipping in and out of consciousness and losing hope of survival in his waking moments.
“I almost surrendered because I thought I will die,” he said from his hospital bed. “I thought: ‘There is no escape.’”
In the Turkish city of Gaziantep, 17-year-old Adnan Muhammed Korkut, was trapped for four days before he was rescued. He told the private IHA news agency that he grew so thirsty that he drank his own urine.
Muhammet Enes Yeninar, 17, and his 21-year-old brother were saved after 198 hours in nearby Kahramanmaras.
He said they cried for the first two days, mostly wondering about their mother and whether she had survived, IHA reported. They later began to comfort each other — “talking about brotherhood” and eating powdered protein.
Also in Kahramanmaras, Aleyna Olmez, 17, was pulled free after 248 hours under the rubble. “I tried to pass the time on my own,” she said.
Stories of remarkable survival often emerge during disaster, especially following earthquakes, when the world’s media records the fading hope of recovering survivors as each hour ticks by.
Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, a 16-year-old girl was rescued in Port-Au-Prince 15 days after an earthquake devastated the city. Three years later, a woman trapped under a collapsed building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, was saved after 17 days.
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Badendieck reported from Istanbul.
Key developments in the aftermath of the Turkey, Syria quake
Search and rescue teams have saved more survivors from the ruins of the Feb. 6 earthquake that devasted swaths of Turkey and Syria even as the window for finding people alive continues to shrink.
Here’s a look at the key developments Saturday from the aftermath of the earthquake.
THREE RESCUED IN HATAY
On the 13th day of rescue operations, three people, including a child, were extracted from under an apartment building in Antakya, the capital of Hatay province.
The man, woman and child were transferred to ambulances after spending 296 hours buried under the Kanatli apartment block in the center of the city, local TV reported. Footage showed medics fixing an IV drip to the man’s arm as he lay on a stretcher.
Also Read: Turkey quake revives debate over nuclear plant being built
Hatay is one of the worst hit of the 11 provinces in the Turkish disaster zone. On Friday evening, Turkey's death toll was 39,672, taking the number of recorded fatalities across both countries to 43,360.
MISSING GHANAIAN SOCCER PLAYER’S BODY FOUND
Search teams have recovered the body of Ghanaian international soccer player Christian Atsu in the ruins of a building that collapsed during the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, his manager said Saturday.
The remains of the soccer star, who had been playing for Turkish Super Lig club Hatayspor, were found in what was left of a luxury 12-story building where he had been living in the hard-hit city of Antakya, Hatay province.
“Atsu’s lifeless body was found under the rubble. At the moment, his belongings are still being removed,” manager Murat Uzunmehmet told private news agency DHA.
The death toll from the 7.8-magnitude quake on Feb. 6 in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria passed 43,000 on Friday and was certain to increase as search teams find more bodies.
The 31-year-old Atsu, who previously played for English Premier League clubs Chelsea, Newcastle United, Everton and Bournemouth, signed for Hatayspor from a Saudi side late last year.
Hatayspor said Atsu’s body was being repatriated to Ghana. “There are no words to describe our sadness,” the club tweeted.
Reports a day after the quake struck had said that Atsu was pulled alive from the rubble of a collapsed building and taken to a hospital for treatment. The club, however, announced days later that Atsu and the club’s sporting director, Taner Savut, were still missing. Savut has not yet been found.
The contractor of the luxury 12-story Ronesans Rezidans building — where Atsu and Savut lived — was detained at Istanbul Airport a week ago, apparently trying to leave the country.
Together for Turkiye
The event – Together for Turkiye – was hosted by Agile Minds Corporation in collaboration with
· The Turkish Embassy in Bangladesh
· TIKA (Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency)
· AFAD (an on-the-ground Turkish NGO which will help with logistical and installation aspects)
· The Earth Identity Project - NGO no. 1969 (which will help with local fund collection)
· THRIVE (a US-registered NGO that will, in due course, provide food packages for the earthquake victims)
Read More: Banglalink donates relief items for Turkey earthquake victims
Mishal Karim, Chairman of Agile Minds Corporation, started his speech with a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
He then stated, “Our initiative will attempt to deliver a functional field hospital with all the required elements: 2 Air Domes - each 4,380 Square Feet, with a connecting channel of 459 Square Feet. The 2 Air Domes come with a 30KW Generator required for their operations. Furthermore, we are arranging for the donation of Sleeping bags, Battery-powered Heaters, Power banks, and Tent mats.”
UN appeals for $1 billion to help Türkiye earthquake survivors
The United Nations launched a $1 billion appeal Thursday to help 5.2 million survivors of the most devastating earthquake in Türkiye’s modern history, two days after starting a $397 million appeal to help nearly 5 million Syrians across the border.
The funding, which covers three months, will allow aid organisations to swiftly ramp up their operations to support government-led response efforts in areas that include food security, protection, education, water and shelter.
Both appeals will be followed by fresh appeals for longer-term help.
“Türkiye is home to the largest number of refugees in the world and has shown enormous generosity to its Syrian neighbours for years,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.
“Now is the time for the world to support the people of Türkiye – just as they have stood in solidarity with others seeking assistance.”
UN Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said: “The people of Türkiye have experienced unspeakable heartache. I met families who shared their stories of shock and devastation. We must stand with them in their darkest hour and ensure they receive the support they need.”
The UN and partners have been rushing to support Türkiye and neighbouring Syria in the wake of the devastating earthquakes that struck on February 6.
More than nine million people in Türkiye alone have been directly impacted by the once-in-a-generation disaster, which has left 35,000 people dead in the country, according to the latest figures from the government.
Read more: Turkey probes contractors as earthquake deaths pass 33,000
The earthquakes struck at the peak of winter, leaving hundreds of thousands of people – including small children and elderly people – without access to shelter, food, water, heaters and medical care in freezing temperatures.
Some 47,000 buildings have been destroyed or damaged, including schools, hospitals and other essential services.
Thousands of people have sought refuge in temporary shelters across the country. Many families have been separated, and hundreds of children are now orphaned or unable to be reunited with their parents.
Around 3.6 million Syrians have found a safe haven in Türkiye, along with nearly 320,000 people of other nationalities, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
More than 1.74 million refugees live in the 11 provinces impacted by the earthquakes.
The UN is coordinating the operations of thousands of search-and-rescue personnel in five provinces – Adiyaman, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş and Malatya – and humanitarian organisations have begun relief operations in the hardest-hit areas, in support of the government-led response.
This week also saw the launch of a nearly $400 million appeal for Syria, where aid delivery from across the border with Türkiye is continuing.
UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said shelter needs are the top priority among displaced people there, where many homes have collapsed in the aftermath of the earthquakes.
Read more: UN appeals for $1 billion to help Türkiye earthquake survivors
More than 8,900 buildings are completely or partially destroyed, leaving 11,000 people homeless. Other priorities include food, cash assistance and supplies to cope with the harsh winter weather.
Banglalink donates relief items for Turkey earthquake victims
Banglalink has donated relief for Turkey earthquake victims.
A delegation of Banglalink led by Taimur Rahman, chief corporate and regulatory affairs officer of Banglalink, handed over the items to Sevki Mert Baris, country coordinator of Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), at its office in Dhaka Thursday.
As part of the initiative, warm clothes and sleeping bags will be distributed among victims in the quake-hit areas of Turkey.
Also, Banglalink users can stay connected with their near and dear ones in Turkey and Syria, making free ISD calls to these countries. The free service will be available until February 23, 2023, starting Friday.
Erik Aas, chief executive officer of Banglalink, said: "We believe that our efforts as a socially responsible company should go beyond borders during such a catastrophic event."
"Banglalink stands in solidarity with the victims amid the challenging time through this initiative."
Read more: Bangladesh team calls off search-and-rescue attempts in Turkey's Adiyaman; leaves for Hatay
‘Whatever you need, let us know’: Momen tells Turkish counterpart
Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen had a telephone conversation yesterday (February 15, 2023) with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu to express solidarity with the government and people of Turkey, and to assure of additional support.
Momen conveyed to the Turkish foreign minister that Bangladesh is sending additional 10,000 tents, with the initial 2000, to Turkey for earthquake victims, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He also requested his Turkish counterpart to let Bangladesh know if they need anything else, adding that Bangladesh wants to send construction workers for reconstruction efforts in the affected areas.
Momen again expressed condolences for the loss of lives caused by the earthquakes and pledged support for Turkish people.
Also read: Vinay Kwatra’s visit to add momentum to Dhaka-Delhi ties, India hopes
“We are truly devastated by the scale of destruction and deaths. We express our wholehearted condolence and also, as your brother, we will try to assist you as much as we can. This is a great shock to all of us in Bangladesh,” he told his Turkish counterpart during the phone call.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu thanked Momen for calling and also thanked the government of Bangladesh – including the president, the prime minister, speaker of the parliament and the foreign minister – and the people for their sincere messages of condolence and solidarity.
Thanking the Bangladesh government for sending search, rescue and medical teams and tents, he said these are what they urgently need at this moment.
Foreign Minister Momen wanted to know about the current situation and his Turkish counterpart stated that the situation is not stable yet, and it is worse than what people are seeing on TV.
Read More: Rising toll makes quake deadliest in Turkey's modern history
“We lost more than 35,000 people and there are people under the rubbles that we couldn’t reach. We are doing our best to normalize life, to provide temporary shelter, and also, we are planning the reconstruction of the region affected by the earthquakes,” said the Turkish foreign minister.
He also expressed concerns about the Bangladeshi citizens who were wounded and wished them quick recovery.
Momen said two Bangladeshi students have been rescued from debris and they are doing fine.
Offering Bangladesh’s support, Momen said, “We can send the construction workers. And whatever you need, let us know and we will try our best.”
Read More: Bangladesh team rescues one alive, recovers 22 bodies so far in Turkey
“If we need anything else, we will reach out without hesitation,” the Turkish foreign minister responded, as quoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The death toll from the magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes that struck nine hours apart in south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria rose to 33,185 and was certain to increase as search teams find more bodies.
Qatar donates World Cup mobile homes to earthquake survivors
Qatar plans to send 10,000 cabins and caravans from last year's World Cup to provide shelter for survivors of the Turkish earthquakes, officials said.
The gas-rich Gulf nation says it had always planned to donate the mobile homes. They were needed to help house some of the 1.4 million fans who descended on the small country during soccer's biggest tournament.
An initial batch of 350 structures was shipped out on Sunday, the Qatar Fund for Development said.
The magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes that struck nine hours apart on Feb. 6 killed more than 35,000 people in southeastern Turkey and war-torn northern Syria. The toll is expected to climb even further as search and rescue teams find more bodies.
Tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed or severely damaged, leaving millions homeless. As shelters filled up in the days after the quake many were forced to sleep outside in wet, wintry weather.
Qatar and other wealthy Gulf countries have joined the global effort to send rescuers and aid to the stricken region. The United Arab Emirates has pledged $100 million for relief efforts. Saudi Arabia has dispatched eight planes loaded with supplies to Turkey and Syria.
The eighth Saudi flight landed in government-held Aleppo, in northern Syria, on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia was a strong supporter of the opposition at the height of Syria's civil war and — unlike other Arab countries — has shown little interest in any rapprochement with President Bashar Assad.
Amid quake’s devastation, parallel rescue bid targets pets
Six days after the earthquake that flattened parts of Turkey and Syria, two survivors emerged from the rubble. They were dogs, the focus of a parallel rescue effort underway.
“One of the dogs clung to its owner’s corpse, and it was absolutely a miracle that it was rescued six days later,” said Csenay Tekinbas, a representative of the local HAYTAP animal welfare group.
“I hope it holds on to life,” Tekinbas said of the dog that finally left its dead owner. “I hope we can give it a new life.”
Already, field hospitals have been set up in four cities to care for rescued pets.
Read More: Rescuers find more alive in Turkey on 8th day after quake
Survival is just the first step. Those hurrying to find and care for pets also struggle to give them proper care. “There is no food, bird food, chicken feed or anything in any pet shop at the moment. Because everywhere is either closed or collapsed,” Tekinbas said.
Large bags of pet food are stacked at a relief station in one Antakya square, their crisp images of green lawns and happily panting pets contrasting with the grim surroundings. Nearby, a burly dog nibbles at a bowl.
The outreach to save pets goes as far as pounding down doors. After being alerted to a dog apparently left alone on the fourth floor of a building, HAYTAP workers put on hard hats and broke into the apartment to rescue a large, fluffy German shepherd.
As the dog slurped noisily at a metal bowl of water downstairs in a crumbling alley, the workers lavished affection on it.
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Robert Bandendieck in Istanbul contributed to this report.