Earthquake
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.
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.
___
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.
Newborn, toddler saved from rubble in quake-hit Syrian town
Residents digging through a collapsed building in a northwest Syrian town discovered a crying infant whose mother appears to have given birth to her while buried underneath the rubble from this week’s devastating earthquake, relatives and a doctor said Tuesday.
The newborn girl’s umbilical cord was still connected to her mother, Afraa Abu Hadiya, who was dead, they said. The baby was the only member of her family to survive from the building collapse Monday in the small town of Jinderis, next to the Turkish border, Ramadan Sleiman, a relative, told The Associated Press.
Monday’s pre-dawn 7.8 magnitude earthquake, followed by multiple aftershocks, caused widespread destruction across southern Turkey and northern Syria. Thousands have been killed, with the toll mounting as more bodies are discovered. But dramatic rescues have also occurred. Elsewhere in Jinderis, a young girl was found alive, buried in concrete under the wreckage of her home.
The newborn baby was rescued Monday afternoon, more than 10 hours after the quake struck. After rescuers dug her out, a female neighbor cut the cord, and she and others rushed with the baby to a children’s hospital in the nearby town of Afrin, where she has been kept on an incubator, said the doctor treating the baby, Dr. Hani Maarouf.
Video of the rescue circulating on social media shows the moments after the baby was removed from the rubble, as a man lifts her up, her umbilical cord still dangling, and rushes away as another man throws him a blanket to wrap her in.
The baby’s body temperature had fallen to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) and she had bruises, including a large one on her back, but she is in stable condition, he said.
Abu Hadiya must have been conscious during the birth and must have died soon after, Maarouf said. He estimated the baby was born several hours before being found, given the amount her temperature had dropped. If the girl had been born just before the quake, she wouldn’t have survived so many hours in the cold, he said.
“Had the girl been left for an hour more, she would have died,” he said.
When the earthquake hit before dawn on Monday, Abu Hadiya, her husband and four children apparently tried to rush out of their apartment building, but the structure collapsed on them. Their bodies were found near the building’s entrance, said Sleiman, who arrived at the scene just after the newborn was discovered.
“She was found in front of her mother’s legs,” he said. “After the dust and rocks were removed the girl was found alive.”
Maarouf said the baby weighed 3.175 kilograms (7 pounds), an average weight for a newborn, and so was carried nearly to term. “Our only concern is the bruise on her back, and we have to see whether there is any problem with her spinal cord,” he said, saying she has been moving her legs and arms normally.
Jinderis, located in the rebel-held enclave of northwest Syria, was hard hit in the quake, with dozens of buildings that collapsed.
Abu Hadiya and her family were among the millions of Syrians who fled to the rebel-held territory from other parts of the country. They were originally from the village of Khsham in eastern Deir el-Zour province, but left in 2014 after the Islamic State group captured their village, said a relative who identified himself as Saleh al-Badran.
In 2018, the family moved to Jinderis after the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, an umbrella for several insurgent groups, captured the town from U.S.-backed Kurdish led fighters, Sleiman said.
On Tuesday, Abu Hadiya and the girl’s father Abdullah Turki Mleihan, along with their four other children were laid to rest in a cemetery on the outskirts of Jinderis.
Back inside the town, rescue operations were still ongoing in their building hoping to find survivors.
The town saw another dramatic rescue Monday evening, when a toddler was pulled alive from the wreckage of a collapsed building. Video from the White Helmets, the emergency service in the region, shows a rescuer digging through crushed concrete amid twisted metal until the little girl, named Nour, appeared. The girl, still half buried, looks up dazedly as they tell her, “Dad is here, don’t be scared. … Talk to your dad, talk.”
A rescuer cradled her head in his hands and tenderly wiped dust from around her eyes before she was pulled out.
The quake has wreaked new devastation in the opposition-held zone, centered on the Syrian province of Idlib, which was already been battered by years of war and strained by the influx of displaced people from the country’s civil war, which began in 2011.
Monday’s earthquake killed hundreds across the area, and the toll was continually mounting with hundreds believed still lost under the rubble. The quake completely or partially toppled more than 730 buildings and damaged thousands more in the territory, according to the White Helmets, as the area’s civil defense is known.
The White Helmets have years of experience in digging victims out from buildings crushed by bombardment from Russian warplanes or Syrian government forces. An earthquake is a new disaster for them.
“They are both catastrophes — a catastrophe that has been ongoing for 12 years and the criminal has not been held accountable, and this one is a natural catastrophe,” said the deputy head of the White Helmets, Munir Mustafa.
Asked if there was a difference between rescue work in the quake and during the war, he said, “We cannot compare death with death … What we are witnessing today is death on top of death.”
Deadly earthquake exacerbates suffering of displaced Syrians
A steady stream of injured flowed into an overwhelmed hospital in the town of Darkush, in rebel-held northwestern Syria on Monday, after a deadly earthquake struck the region. Mothers hovered over crying children.
Amid the chaos, one man sat with a dazed expression, his face covered with abrasions.
The man, Osama Abdul Hamid, barely made it out alive with his wife and four children from his apartment building in the nearby village of Azmarin. Many of their neighbors were not so lucky.
“The building is four stories, and from three of them, no one made it out,” Abdul Hamid said, breaking down in tears. “God gave me a new lease on life.”
At an equally overwhelmed hospital in Idlib city, Shajul Islam, a British doctor who works with several non-governmental organizations, was having the worst day of his seven years working in Syria.
“I’m literally taking a patient off a ventilator to give another patient a chance, having to decide which patient has more of a chance of surviving or not,” Islam said.
The hospital, already struggling with weak health infrastructure and funding cuts, he said, was particularly overburdened after the earthquake because other hospitals in the area were out of commission.
“We’ve got quite a lot of hospitals that had been previously hit in the war. So they had already the foundations, everything had already been weakened,” he said. With the added blow of the earthquake, he said, "We’ve had at least three or four hospitals that I know of that have been put out of service."
The powerful 7.8 magnitude quake that struck before dawn on Monday wreaked new damage and suffering in Syria’s last rebel-held enclave after years of fighting and bombardment.
Hospitals and clinics were flooded with injured people. The enclave, centered in Idlib province, houses millions of displaced Syrians who had fled their homes during the country’s civil war. Many of the displaced live in dire conditions in makeshift camps. Many others there and in neighboring government-held areas are housed in buildings weakened by past bombings, leaving them even more vulnerable to shocks from earthquakes.
The quake caused total or partial damage to buildings in at least 58 villages, towns and cities in northwestern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.
More than 4,000 people were killed in Turkey and Syria, with the toll expected to climb. In the opposition-held territory in Syria, at least 450 were reported dead, but hundreds more were believed be buried under the rubble of their homes.
“This disaster will worsen the suffering of Syrians already struggling with a severe humanitarian crisis,” Carsten Hansen, the director for the Middle East at the Norwegian Refugee Council, said in a statement. “Millions have already been forced to flee by war in the wider region and now many more will be displaced by disaster.”
In the hospital in Darkush in western Idlib, Abdel Hamid said his family were sleeping in their apartment when they were roused by powerful, prolonged shaking. They ran from the apartment, but “before we reached the door of the building, the whole building came down on us,” he said.
A wooden door shielded them from the worst force of the collapse — they all got out alive. He and his wife and three of the children suffered head injuries, but are all in stable condition.
The scale of the casualties quickly overwhelmed the hospital’s resources, said Majdi al-Ibrahim, a general surgeon at the hospital.
“We need urgent help. The danger is beyond our capacity,” he said.
The Syrian American Medical Society, which runs hospitals in northern Syria and southern Turkey, said in a statement that its facilities are “overwhelmed with patients filling the hallways” and called urgently for “trauma supplies and a comprehensive emergency response to save lives and treat the injured.”
The opposition territory in the northwest corner of Syria has held out for years even after Syrian government forces retook most rebel-held areas around the country.
Fighting still flares from time to time with Russian-backed Syrian forces nearby. Parts of the territory are run by rebel groups, including a dominant al-Qaida-linked militant faction, while parts are under a Turkish-backed administration known as the Syrian Interim Government.
The disaster came on the heels of severe winter storms, further adding to the misery of those left without shelter.
“There is rain and the weather is very cold, there is snow in some of the areas,” Abdel Hakim al-Masri, economy minister with the Turkish-backed regional administration, told The Associated Press. He noted that some of the displacement camps in the area had been decimated by the quake.
Al-Masri said that efforts have begun to find temporary shelter for the people now doubly displaced by the earthquake, but that the magnitude of the response required is well beyond the local resources available.
“There is a huge amount of suffering, and this will increase it,” he said. "This matter calls for rapid action by all countries of the world.”
___
Sewell reported from Beirut.
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.
A glance at the world’s deadliest quakes in past 25 years
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake shook Turkey and Syria on Monday, killing more than 5,000 people in the two countries. The death toll is expected to rise as rescuers working in cold and snow look for trapped people in the rubble of toppled buildings.
Here are some of the world’s deadliest earthquakes in the past 25 years:
___
— June 22, 2022: In Afghanistan, more than 1,100 people die in magnitude 6.1 earthquake.
— Aug. 14, 2021: In Haiti, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake kills more than 2,200 people.
— Sept. 28, 2018: A magnitude 7.5 earthquake hits Indonesia, triggering a tsunami and killing more than 4,300 people.
— April 25, 2015: In Nepal, more than 8,800 people are killed by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake.
— March 11, 2011: A magnitude 9.0 quake off the northeast coast of Japan triggers a tsunami, killing nearly 20,000 people.
— Jan. 12, 2010: In Haiti, over 100,000 people are killed by a magnitude 7.0 quake. Government estimates put the number at a staggering 316,000 dead.
— May 12, 2008: A magnitude 7.9 quake strikes eastern Sichuan in China, resulting in over 87,500 deaths.
— May 27, 2006: More than 5,700 people die when a magnitude 6.3 quake hits the island of Java, Indonesia.
— Oct. 8, 2005: A magnitude 7.6 earthquake kills over 80,000 people in Pakistan’s Kashmir region.
— March 28, 2005: A magnitude 8.6 quake in northern Sumatra in Indonesia kills about 1,300 people.
— Dec. 26, 2004: A magnitude 9.1 quake in Indonesia triggers an Indian Ocean tsunami, killing some 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
— Dec. 26, 2003: A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits southeastern Iran, resulting in more than 20,000 deaths.
— May 21, 2003: More than 2,200 people are killed in a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in Algeria.
— Jan. 26, 2001: A magnitude 7.6 quake strikes Gujarat in India, killing as many as 20,000 people.
— Aug. 17, 1999: A magnitude 7.6 earthquake hits Izmit, Turkey, killing about 18,000 people.
— May 30, 1998: Over 4,000 people are killed after a 6.6 magnitude temblor hits Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province.
___
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
Aid, rescuers rush to Turkey, Syria after deadly earthquake
Many governments and aid groups have rushed to dispatch personnel, funds and equipment to help the rescue efforts in quake-stricken areas of Turkey and Syria. Here’s a glance at what’s being provided so far:
— The European Union has mobilized search and rescue teams to help Turkey, while the 27-nation bloc’s Copernicus satellite system has been activated to provide emergency mapping services. At least 13 member countries have offered assistance. The EU said it’s also ready to offer help to Syria through its humanitarian assistance programs.
— The United States is coordinating immediate assistance to NATO-member Turkey, including teams to support search and rescue efforts. U.S.-supported humanitarian partners are also responding to the destruction in Syria. In California, nearly 100 Los Angeles County firefighters and structural engineers, along with a half-dozen specially trained dogs, were being sent to Turkey to help with rescue efforts.
— Russian rescue teams from the Emergencies Ministry are preparing to fly 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.
Read: Rescuers scramble in Turkey, Syria after quake kills 4,000
War-ravaged Syria is calling on the United Nations and all member states to help with rescue efforts, health services, shelter and food aid. The affected area in Syria is divided between government-held territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave.
— The Israeli army says it’s sending a search and rescue team of 150 engineers, medical personnel and other aid workers to Turkey. The army said they would provide “immediate assistance in life-saving efforts.” The two countries, once close regional allies, are in the process of mending ties after years of tensions. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has also approved a request for humanitarian aid for Syria, received through a diplomatic official. Israel and Syria do not have diplomatic relations and the two countries have fought several wars.
— Neighbor and historic regional 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.
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