Rescue teams are still working in Turkey today Wednesday in an effort to find survivors despite fading hopes. Maybe a miracle will happen and one of them will hang on to life, hold on and survive the “disaster of the century” as described by the Turkish president. About 212 hours after the devastating earthquake, Turkish rescue teams pulled a 77-year-old woman alive from under the rubble in Adiyaman, in Turkey.
According to the official Anadolu news agency, rescue teams are continuing their efforts to find survivors under the rubble. He added that teams managed to rescue the citizen, Fatima Gungor, after 212 hours of waiting under the rubble, and the old woman was immediately taken in hospital. Some of Gungur’s relatives hugged rescuers to express their gratitude for saving him.
A few hours earlier, after 209 hours, a couple was rescued from under the rubble.
At dawn on 6 February, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria, followed by hundreds of severe aftershocks, causing huge loss of life and property in both countries.
The number of victims of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria has reached more than 39,000 people, according to official statistics, while the number of injured has approached about 100,000, in addition to the displacement of thousands of families.
And Turkey’s disaster and emergency management authority announced on Tuesday evening that the death toll from the earthquake in the south of the country had risen to 35,418 people. In a statement, AFAD indicated that some 196,000 earthquake-affected people have been evacuated from disaster-stricken states.
At the same time, the death toll in all of Syria rose to 3,688 dead and 14,749 wounded, as a result of the devastating earthquake.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “The earthquake, which hit aarea of 500 kilometres in 10 states, inhabited by about 13.5 million citizens, has unfortunately caused serious damage”. And he added: “We are facing one of the greatest natural disasters not only in Turkey but also in the history of humanity. We are clearing the rubble of thousands of buildings destroyed by the earthquake, which is being described as the catastrophe of the century. Unfortunately, the number of our loss of life is in increase”.
According to the Turkish Disaster Management Authority, 35,249 search and rescue workers are working in the affected areas, including international teams.
He explained that the number of search and rescue teams from other countries has reached 9,456. He pointed out that the total number of personnel working in the earthquake area from various official and unofficial institutions and agencies has reached 249.89 people.
On Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched an emergency appeal to raise about $400 million to help earthquake victims in Syria for a period of three months.
He told reporters that the organization is working to launch a similar appeal for donations to earthquake victims in Turkey.
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