The hope of finding more survivors was fading this Thursday in the areas affected by the powerful earthquake in Turkey and Syria, one of the deadliest in decades in the region, with almost 20,000 deaths.
Rescue teams continue to search for thousands of people suspected trapped in the rubble, but optimism wanes in the face of freezing temperatures and the 72-hour deadline considered crucial to saving lives.
The death toll continues to grow. The latest figures put it at 19,863, 16,546 of them in Turkey and 3,317 in Syria.
To this must be added the economic losses, which according to the Fitch rating agency may probably “exceed 2,000 million dollars” and “could reach 4,000 million dollars or more.”
Some 23 million people are “potentially at risk, including some five million vulnerable people”, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which fears a serious health crisis, with diseases such as cholera, which would cause even more damage than Earthquake.
In the Turkish city of Antakya, survivors searched for their deceased relatives among body bags deposited in a parking lot converted into a makeshift morgue.
“We found my aunt, but not my uncle,” Rania Zaboubi, a Syrian refugee who lost eight relatives, said in a choked voice.
The 7.8 magnitude quake struck early Monday morning while many people were still asleep in this region where many have already suffered loss and displacement due to Syria’s civil war.
Until this Thursday, the northwest of Syria, controlled by the rebels, did not receive its first international aid convoy through the Bab al Hawa border crossing, the only one authorized for these shipments from Turkey.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that the delivery includes blankets, mattresses, tents and basic relief items to cover the needs of at least 5,000 people.
Although it was an assistance package planned since before the quake, “it could be considered an initial response from the United Nations and it should continue, as we were promised, with bigger convoys to help our people,” said Mazen Alloush, the person in charge of the border crossing.
Also in Syria, the collapse of an earthen dam caused by the quake forced most of the inhabitants of the northwestern town of Tlul to flee.
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discontent in turkey
On the other side of the border, discontent is growing at the authorities’ reaction to the earthquake, which, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself admitted on Wednesday, had “deficiencies.”
“Of course, there are deficiencies, it is impossible to be prepared for such a catastrophe,” he said during a visit to some of the hardest-hit areas.
Many survivors had to search for food and shelter on their own. With no rescue teams in several areas, some watched helplessly as their trapped relatives called for help until their voices trailed off.
The cold aggravates the situation. Although with temperatures of -5ºC, thousands of families in Gaziantep spent the night in cars or tents, unable to return to their homes or too afraid to do so.
Parents walked through the streets of this city in southeastern Turkey carrying their children, wrapped in blankets, because they were less cold than in stores.
“When we sit down, it hurts. It scares me because of the people trapped under the rubble,” said Melek Halici, her two-year-old daughter covered by a blanket.
“No obstacle” to help
In Brussels, the European Union is preparing a donor conference in March to mobilize international aid for Syria and Turkey.
“No one should be left alone when a tragedy like this strikes a people,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The question of aid is thorny in Syria, wracked by civil war, with parts of the country under rebel control and a government at odds with the West.
The European Union quickly sent rescue teams to Turkey, which also received help from the United States, China or the Gulf countries, but initially offered minimal assistance to Syria because of the sanctions against Damascus.
On Wednesday, however, Bashar al-Assad’s government formally requested aid from Brussels and the European Commission urged the Twenty-seven to “respond favourably”, while ensuring that the aid “is not diverted”.
The UN special envoy for Syria asked on Thursday not to politicize humanitarian aid. “We have to do everything possible to ensure that there is no obstacle to the vital aid that is needed in Syria,” Geir Pedersen said.
In a region of recurring seismic activity, Monday’s quake is the strongest to hit Turkey since 1939, when a tremor killed 33,000 people in the eastern province of Erzincan.
In 1999, another magnitude 7.4 earthquake caused more than 17,000 deaths.