KAHRAMANMARAS, Türkiye: Seven survivors were rescued from the rubble in Türkiye on Tuesday (Feb 14), more than a week after a devastating earthquake, as the focus of the aid effort shifted to helping people now struggling without shelter or enough food in the bitter cold.
The disaster, with a combined death toll in Türkiye and neighbouring Syria exceeding 37,000, has ravaged cities in both countries, leaving many survivors homeless in near-freezing winter temperatures.
The seven rescued on Tuesday included two brothers, aged 17 and 21, pulled from an apartment block in Kahramanmaras province, and a woman rescued from the rubble of a building in the southern Turkish city of Antakya, Turkish media said.
But UN authorities have said the rescue phase was coming to a close, with the focus turning to shelter, food and schooling, as those who survived were struggling.
“People are suffering a lot. We applied to receive tent, aid or something but until now we didn’t receive anything,” said Hassan Saimoua, a refugee staying with his family in a playground in Türkiye’s southeastern city of Gaziantep.
Saimoua and other Syrians who had found refuge in Gaziantep from the war at home but were made homeless by the quake used plastic sheets, blankets and cardboard to erect makeshift tents in the playground.
“The needs are huge, increasing by the hour,” said Hans Henri P Kluge, the World Health Organizations’s director for Europe. “Some 26 million people across both countries need humanitarian assistance.”
“There are also growing concerns over emerging health issues linked to the cold weather, hygiene and sanitation, and the spread of infectious diseases – with vulnerable people especially at risk.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
