Update: Turkey earthquake death toll surpasses 19,800 as survivors struggle to stay warm
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Three days after a catastrophic 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated Turkey and Syria, the death toll still keeps climbing up – 19,000 people as at press time on Thursday, February 9.
Hundreds of other families were still stuck under the debris as at Thursday after about 90 buildings collapsed in a Syrian town, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
A boy and his mother were rescued by German (yellow) and British (orange) rescue teams after an 8-hour operation in Kahramanmaras, Turkey.
In Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo, harrowing footage published by Shaam Network shows heartbroken families carrying the remains of deceased loved ones as part of a mass makeshift burial. One man can be seen carrying a small bundle wrapped in white, appearing to be a dead child.
Also in Aleppo, Syria, rescue workers pulled seven people out alive and 44 bodies from a collapsed building in the city center on Thursday, Syrian state TV reported.
“We are racing against time. Time is running out,’ said the Syrian paramedic group in the rebel-held northwest known as White Helmets. “Every second could mean saving a life.”
Tens of thousands of people in Turkey have lost their homes and have found shelter in tents, stadiums, and other temporary accommodations, others have spent the nights outdoors.
Turkey’s disaster management agency said 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.
But Turkish authorities said Thursday that the death toll had risen to more than 16,000 in the country, with more than 64,000 injured. On the Syrian side, which includes in government-held and rebel-held areas, more than 3,000 have been reported dead and more than 5,000 injured.
The overall death toll early Thursday climbed past 19,800 people, surpassing the tally in a 2011 earthquake off Japan that triggered a tsunami, killing more than 18,400 people.
