Kahramanmaras, Turkey: Rescue workers made one last push Thursday to find survivors of the earthquake that destroyed many communities in Turkey and Syria and prompted Turkey's president to declare it "the disaster of the century." The death toll surpassed 20,000.
The earthquake struck an area that is home to 13.5 million people in Turkey and an unknown number in Syria, and it stretches farther than the distance between London and Paris or Boston and Philadelphia. Even with an army of people assisting in the rescue effort, crews had to pick and choose where to assist.
The aerial view revealed the extent of the devastation, with entire neighborhoods of high-rises reduced to twisted metal, pulverized concrete, and exposed wires.
Associated Press journalists in Adiyaman witnessed someone pleading with rescuers to look through the rubble of a building where relatives were trapped. They refused, claiming that no one was alive and that they needed to prioritize areas with potential survivors.
A man who gave his name only as Ahmet out of fear of government retribution later asked the AP: "How can I go home and sleep?" My brother is present. He could be alive."
The death toll from Monday's 7.8 magnitude earthquake has risen to nearly 21,000, surpassing the more than 18,400 who died in the 2011 earthquake off Fukushima, Japan, which triggered a tsunami, and the estimated 18,000 who died in a 1999 tremor near Istanbul.
Over 17,600 people were counted in Turkey and over 3,300 in Syria, a country ravaged by civil war, in the new figure, which is certain to rise. Thousands also sustained injuries.
Although experts claim that people could survive for a week or longer, the likelihood of finding survivors in the bitter cold was dwindling. As rescue workers and anxious family members combed through the debris in search of survivors, the emphasis shifted to tearing down potentially dangerous structures.
The rescue of a 10-year-old in Antakya was covered by the DHA news agency. According to the agency, her parents and three siblings died, and in order to free her, medics had to amputate an arm. Even those that did not fall over had severe damage and were therefore dangerous. Large machines tore at one collapsed building as crowds of onlookers, mostly relatives of those trapped inside, watched. The building's floors were pancaked together with only a few inches between them.
The building where six members of Mehmet Yilmaz's family, including four children, had been trapped was being demolished as 67-year-old Mehmet Yilmaz watched from a distance. We can't give up on God, but when they came in with dogs and listening devices, Yilmaz said, "There was nothing." Mehmet, sat and observed as the nine-story building's remains collapsed in a cloud of dust. He claimed there was no chance he would find his five family members, who were trapped beneath the rubble. But he added that getting their bodies back would be a small solace.
A sports hall the size of a basketball court was used as a makeshift morgue in Kahramanmaras, the city closest to the epicenter, to store and identify bodies. Numerous bodies covered in black shrouds or blankets were spread out on the ground. One at least had the appearance of a 5- or 6-year-old. A small truck's bed contained two black body bags that were next to each other as a man sobbed over them at the entrance.
Rescue efforts went on in Kahramanmaras, but it was obvious that many people who were trapped in collapsed buildings had already passed away. One of the rescuers was overheard complaining that his psychological well-being was deteriorating and that the smell of death was becoming intolerable.
The difficulty of getting aid to people in that region was highlighted by the arrival of the first U.N. relief trucks from Turkey to enter the rebel-controlled area in northwest Syria since the earthquake. Dozens of people clambered for assistance in front of a truck distributing children's coats and other supplies in the Turkish city of Antakya. Ahmet Tokgoz, one of the survivors, urged the government to order an evacuation of the area.
"It is not possible to live here, especially in this cold," he declared. "People will freeze to death from the cold if they haven't already from being trapped under the rubble." A perception that could harm Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a time when he faces a challenging campaign for reelection in May is that the government was slow to react.
Rescuers pulled an elderly woman from beneath the debris of a collapsed home in the Turkish town of Elbistan. Rescue workers begged quietly in the hopes of hearing stifled cries for assistance, and the White Helmets, a Syrian paramedic organization, warned that "every second could mean saving a life." But the teams were finding dead bodies more frequently.
In the cities of Kilis and Sanliurfa, where damage was not as severe as in other areas, authorities suspended search and rescue operations.
According to Vice President Fuat Oktay, the rescue efforts in Diyarbakir, Adana, and Osmaniye are largely finished. The United Nations is only permitted to deliver aid through one border crossing, and so far, road damage has prevented that. It was unclear how many people in each nation remained missing.
More than 110,000 rescue workers are currently contributing to the effort, according to Turkey's disaster management agency, and more than 5,500 vehicles, including tractors, cranes, bulldozers, and excavators, have been shipped. According to the foreign ministry, 95 nations have offered assistance.
Source: AP News