Tag: Kahramanmaras earthquake

Explained | Why is it difficult to send aid to earthquake-affected parts of northwestern Syria?

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The story so far: The death toll in the devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria in the early hours of February 6 rose above 35,000 on Tuesday, with around 31,643 people dead in Turkey and 3,581 dead in Syria.

The 7.8 and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes were followed by nearly 200 powerful aftershocks, killing thousands of people, destroying buildings, and trapping survivors under tonnes of rubble. While the world responded swiftly by dispatching rescue teams and relief aid to Turkey, providing the same for Syria has been a challenge.

The epicentre of the first earthquake that struck in the early hours of February 6 was located about 33 km from Gaziantep, a historical city in south-central Turkey. Gaziantep is also around 120 km from Aleppo in Syria, one of the worst-affected areas in the war-torn country.

Understanding political control in Syria

Syria was already ravaged by unending war and a humanitarian crisis when the earthquake worsened their situation.

During the 2011 Arab Spring, rebel groups launched an armed attack against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who took over the post from his father and former President Hafez al-Assad in 2000 after he ruled the country for almost three decades. The rebellion transformed into a civil war, involving terrorist groups like the Islamic State and the Syrian faction of al-Qaeda. Eventually, the civil war led to the world’s worst refugee crisis since World War II.

Currently, there are multiple powers at play in Syria. Assad’s government, supported by Russia and Iran, controls most of the country. Other forces and Assad’s opposers include the largely KurdishSyrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are active in the northern part of the country and backed by western powers like the U.S. and Germany. Idlib, a province in the northwestern part of the country, is the last rebel stronghold in Syria, currently controlled by al-Qaeda-linked group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

According to the UN, around three million people, most of them internally displaced and fleeing war in other parts of Syria, live in Idlib. Many have been forced to flee their homes multiple times.

Why is it difficult to send aid to northwestern Syria?

The northwestern parts of Syria are also the worst affected by the earthquake. Idlib, already ravaged by war, disease, starvation, and multiple humanitarian crises all at the same time, is also severely damaged by the February 7 earthquake. Most infrastructure in the area is temporary – not adequate to protect people from the biting cold, especially as most permanent buildings were either destroyed during the war or the earthquake. In fact, freezing temperatures in both Turkey and Syria have proven to be a major hindrance in rescue and relief efforts.

Currently, local organisations such as the White Helmets are leading the rescue and relief efforts in the region.

So far, international aid to Idlib and other parts of northwestern Syria could only be sent through the United Nations (UN)-approved Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkey-Syria border. However, the crossing was damaged due to the earthquake, blocking relief material from reaching the affected parts of the country. The authorisation forthis crossing also needs to be renewed periodically by the UN Security Council (the latest renewal was adopted on January 9). On February 14, President Assad allowed the opening of two more crossing points at Bab Al-Salam and Al Ra’ee for an initial period of three months, to allow aid to reach the northwestern parts of Syria.

Previously, Russia and China – supporters of the Assad regime in Syria and permanent members of the UN Security Council – vetoed opening more humanitarian routes in Idlib.

Infighting between groups within Syria is an added challenge for aid workers. An aid convoy from Kurdish-led SDF to an area held by rebel factions was not allowed to cross over and reach those in need on Thursday, news agency Reuters reported.

Concerns over aid through Syrian government

Another challenge for relief efforts was the Syrian government’s reluctance to provide relief workers direct access to affected areas, and its insistence that all assistance must be done in coordination with Damascus and not through the Turkish border.

The U.S., however, has not been in favour of providing aid to Syrians through channels regulated by the Assad government. “This is a regime that has never shown any inclination to put the welfare, the well-being, the interests of its people first,” U.S. Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said, outlining why the U.S. government was not reaching out to Assad’s office to coordinate relief efforts.

Fears of the weaponisation of aid in Syria are not new— the Syrian Association for Citizens’ Dignity (SACD), which describes itself as a civil rights grassroots popular movement, says the weaponisation of humanitarian aid reaching Syria is “well-documented”. A report published by SACD in November 2021 noted that Assad’s regime interferes in the work of organisations by determining who benefits from their work and by redirecting help and other benefits to military and security agencies and personnel. Refusing direct or indirect instructions from the Assad government may result in consequences such as “revoking an organisation’s permits to cancelling projects or losing jobs”.

During the most ferocious years of fighting in Syria, government offers were often “surrender or starve” tactics and cut off entire communities believed to be supporting rivals, BBC noted.

Concerns about manipulation of aid by the Assad regime will keep critical supplies like recovery machinery and fuel under-supplied in Syria, the European Council on Foreign Relations said.

Russia’s closeness to the Assad regime is also a concern for countries, especially the Western powers, given the Ukraine invasion that started almost a year ago.

International sanctions on Syria

On February 7, Khaled Hboubati, head of the non-profit organisation Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), appealed to western countries to lift their sanctions on Syria to aid relief work. “We need heavy equipment, ambulances and firefighting vehicles to continue to rescue and remove the rubble, and this entails lifting sanctions on Syria as soon as possible,” he was quoted as saying by Syria’s Sana news agency.

On Friday, the U.S. announced a 180-day relaxation period on the sanctions imposed on Syria to aid relief work in the earthquake-affected country, The Guardian reported.

The U.S. designated Syria as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1979, with more sanctions placed on the country over the years. However, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, which came into force in 2020, was one of the most forceful sets of guidelines, aimed at punishing financial and political supporters of President Assad.

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has now issued Syria a General License (GL) 23, which authorises all transactions related to earthquake relief that would be otherwise prohibited by the Syrian Sanctions Regulations (SySR). The licence is valid for 180 days.

European Union’s (EU) current sanctions against Syria were introduced in 2011 and renewed last year, until June 1, 2023. These include “a ban on the import of oil, restrictions on certain investments, a freeze of the assets of the Syrian Central Bank held in the EU, and export restrictions on equipment and technology that might be used for internal repression, as well as on equipment and technology for the monitoring or interception of internet or telephone communications”. There is no confirmation yet if the EU will relax its sanctions against Syria.

Other countries that have placed sanctions against Syria include Australia and Canada.

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WHO spokesperson: In Turkey and Syria, we are in a race against time

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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.

After an unprecedented series of deadly earthquakes struck Syria and Turkey, the death toll keeps rising, surpassing 16,000 by Thursday morning, while domestic and international rescue teams continue their search for survivors.

Harsh weather conditions and significant damage to infrastructure have affected both rescue efforts and incoming international aid, and the extent of the devastation is still unclear, especially in the less accessible areas of the two countries.

Euronews View talked to WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević about the destruction the quake left in its path, the ways in which the disaster has struck the affected communities in Turkey and Syria, and what still needs to be done to help right now.

Euronews View: The earthquake struck a vast area in Turkey and Syria. Could you please tell us more about the sheer scale of the disaster we are witnessing?

Tarik Jašarević: The two earthquakes and hundreds of aftershocks have caused significant destruction on each side of the Turkish/Syrian border, claiming thousands of lives across both countries and damaging or destroying essential infrastructure, including health facilities. 

These have been some of the strongest earthquakes to hit the region in a century (on a scale not seen since 1939), prompting a global humanitarian response — including from WHO and other United Nations partners — at the request of the Government of Turkey.

As WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at Wednesday’s press conference, “With the weather conditions and ongoing aftershocks, we’re in a race against time to save lives. People need shelter, food, clean water and medical care for injuries resulting from the earthquake, but also for other health needs.”

Euronews View: Your organisation has initially predicted that the death toll could rise to 20,000. This would mark one of the most disastrous events in Europe’s recent history. What kind of an effect can this have on the societies in Turkey and Syria in the immediate aftermath?

Tarik Jašarević: The figures on casualties are expected to rise as the situation evolves and are likely to increase as the full extent of the damage becomes clearer. 

As DG Tedros said on 7 February, “What these numbers don’t tell us is the grief and loss being experienced by families right now who have lost a mother, a father, a daughter, a son beneath the rubble — or who don’t know whether their loved ones are alive or dead.”

The initial focus is on saving lives and providing care to the injured. National officials in both countries are leading search and rescue operations while anticipating an increased need for trauma care to treat the injured, but it’s a race against time. 

Continued aftershocks, severe winter conditions, and damage to roads, power supplies, communications, and other infrastructure hamper access and search and rescue efforts. 

Heavy snow, rainfall and cuts to electricity and communications further aggravate the situation, while people have only temporary or no shelter from the elements.

We are especially concerned about areas where we do not yet have information. Damage mapping is ongoing, but with hospitals and clinics damaged and health workers needing to care for those around them, we expect there will be a need for further support from around the country and region.

Euronews View: What has been affected the most, what kind of disruptions are people facing, and which services are critical at the moment?

Tarik Jašarević: Widespread damage has been caused in southeastern Turkey and north-western Syria; in Turkey, 3 471 collapsed buildings have been reported so far, and (according to the authorities) at least 15 hospitals have been damaged, with many more health facilities affected. 

Through the health cluster, WHO and partners are currently mapping the health facilities affected, their functionality and needs, and collecting further data on trauma and injuries resulting from the earthquakes.

Earthquakes cause high mortality resulting from trauma, asphyxia, dust inhalation (acute respiratory distress), or exposure to the environment (i.e. hypothermia). 

In any earthquake, it is critical to respond to the immediate needs as well as the potential many downstream consequences of the event, including disruptions to healthcare services, threats due to exposure to cold weather, mental health needs, and increased risk of disease outbreaks.

Immediate health impacts include trauma-related deaths and injuries from building collapse, so surgical needs are important in the first weeks. 

The broad pattern of injury is likely to be a mass of people with minor cuts and bruises, a smaller group suffering from simple fractures, and a minority with serious multiple fractures or internal injuries and crush syndrome requiring surgery and other intensive treatment. 

Burns and electroshocks are also present, especially where energy supplies and infrastructure have been heavily affected.

The wider health system needs support in the affected areas, including where health facilities have been damaged.  Earthquakes damage health facilities and transportation, which disrupts service delivery and access to care, while health workers may not be able to reach the still functional health facilities.

Euronews View: What can be said about the communities that have been affected the worst? What kind of specific needs do these communities have that are possibly not being discussed at the moment?

Tarik Jašarević: In the midst of difficult winter conditions, this earthquake has affected a population of an estimated 23 million people (according to Pacific Disaster Centre), and the vulnerable have become even more vulnerable.

About 15 million people live in areas of Turkey where the impact of the earthquake is being most felt. The country hosts the largest refugee population in the world, with at least 4.2 million refugees and migrants and 300 000 asylum seekers. While the country has a very strong capacity to respond to earthquakes, the level of the destruction is such that they have put out an alert for international medical assistance.

In Syria, 15.3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Twelve years of conflict, socioeconomic downturn, population displacement, and multiple public health hazards, including disease outbreaks, have put significant pressure on a fragmented health system. 

This tragedy adds to the suffering of the people of Syria and is expected to further exacerbate vulnerabilities, including outbreak control, potential disruption of life-saving referral networks, and additional pressures on already strained health services for trauma care and rehabilitation.

The immediate needs are search and rescue, trauma support and safe shelter, as well as psychosocial support for those who need it. Damage to water, sanitation and health care services may contribute to a heightened risk of disease outbreaks. Poor weather and exposure to the elements also increases the risk to people’s health. 

National authorities are focusing on search and rescue while anticipating an increased need for trauma care to treat the injured. Many hospitals have been damaged and may need additional supplies and support.

Euronews View: What is happening in Syria? Can international help reach the affected areas there at all at this time?

Tarik Jašarević: WHO is working with national and international health partners throughout Syria. 

In northwest Syria for example, WHO provides medical supplies to many of the 141 partners who have been delivering health care for a decade now. These are the local responders who are treating the wounded and shoring up health services.

WHO and its implementing partners continue to work with health authorities and other partners in Turkey and northwestern Syria from our cross-border operations based in Gaziantep to help provide essential health services and support to those affected. 

Trauma emergency and surgical supplies were shipped cross-border to 16 hospitals in northwest Syria on 6 February.

Euronews View: How would you rate the international response so far? Is there something that Europeans and others could do to help in particular, be it on an individual level or through their governments?

Tarik Jašarević: WHO is providing medical supplies, supporting both countries to respond and working with partners to provide specialised medical care, mental health and trauma response, preparedness and service provision for sanitation, disease surveillance and outbreak prevention and readiness, and ensuring continuity of essential health services.

We are closely monitoring the situation, mobilising supplies and working with local health authorities and other humanitarian partners to provide essential health services and support to those affected. Our priority is to ensure that people in need have access to adequate medical care and essential medicines.

Life-saving medicines and supplies have already been dispatched: one flight is currently on the way to Istanbul, carrying medical supplies and surgical trauma kits from our logistics hub in Dubai and a flight to Damascus is almost ready for departure. A third flight with supplies is being planned. 

To give an example of the volume and type of supplies shipped, the flight to Syria contains 160 metric tonnes of medical supplies to treat injuries and major surgical trauma supplies, medical equipment, medicines, and others.

In addition, 77 national and 13 international Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) are deploying to both countries. EMTs are made up of health professionals from around the world who are trained to provide life-saving care in emergency situations.

In terms of immediate needs for the response, WHO and its partners need access to most affected populations, including by cross-border and cross-line approach, as well as facilitated entry and distribution of medicines, supplies, equipment, and surge support staff.

New resources are urgently needed, as the reduced funding is severely affecting operational capacity and ability to respond to any additional/emerging crises. Additional trauma and surgical supplies, prosthetics and assistive devices, basic first aid kits, and support to partners to ensure sufficient safe water supply are also required.

To quote DG Tedros, “this is a moment when we must come together in solidarity, as one humanity, to save lives and alleviate the suffering of people who have already suffered so much.”

Tarik Jašarević serves as World Health Organisation spokesperson at its Geneva headquarters. Previously, he worked as a public information officer for the United Nations in Haiti and Kosovo and as a UN volunteer in East Timor.

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Climate change-related disasters are surging. Someone has to pay

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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.

On Monday, earthquakes in my country Turkey and neighbouring Syria left a trail of unprecedented devastation and a death toll surpassing 16,000 people at the last count.

We do not know for sure what triggered this horrific natural disaster, but we do know there is growing scientific evidence that climate change increases the risk of such tremors, together with tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.

“If a fault is primed or ready to rupture, all that is needed is the pressure of a handshake to set if off […] Environmental changes associated with rapid and accelerating climate breakdown could easily do the job,” professor of geophysics and climate hazards at University College London Bill McGuire pointed out back in 2012.

Furthermore, NASA scientists acknowledged that glaciers retreating due to global warming have been triggering earthquakes in Alaska in the last decades. 

The impact is not limited to the Arctic. As melting glaciers change the distribution of weight across the Earth’s crust, the resulting “glacial isostatic adjustment” drives changes in plate tectonics that could lead to more earthquakes, awaken volcanoes and even affect the movement of the Earth’s axis.

This particular consequence of global warming “warns us of a seismically turbulent future,” one recent study concluded.

Unfortunately, it is not just earthquakes. Climate and weather-related disasters have surged five-fold over the past five decades, killing over two million people, with 91% of the casualties in developing countries. And it is only getting worse.

Is there accountability for Big Oil’s ‘ever more invasive ways’?

Fossil fuel companies bear significant responsibility for the climate emergency yet enjoy near-total impunity. At the same time, they are consistently reaping record profits — while ordinary citizens across the globe struggle to pay their household bills. 

A series of investigations and legal proceedings over the years have shown how fossil fuel giants call the shots: they use and abuse the rule of law to escape accountability for environmental pollution, resource-grabbing and cronyism. Those objecting are often silenced.

Just over the last decade, fossil fuel companies in the United States have targeted over 150 environmental activists with lawsuits. Meanwhile, dozens of US states are in the process of enacting “critical infrastructure” legislation, increasing criminal penalties against activists protesting pipelines that will wreck the planet. 

One European Parliament study similarly found that EU-based mining, oil, and gas extraction companies are increasing impacts on indigenous communities in “ever more invasive ways”.

Third-party litigation funding (TPLF) is another approach exploited by Western oil and gas interests, where claimants raise funds from outside investors who take the lion’s share of the proceeds. 

Since 2012, US investment fund Tenor backed the $1.4 billion (€1.3bn) claim of a Canadian mining firm against the Venezuelan government, permitting a court-ordered seizure of its Houston-based oil company.

Tenor is also targeting other developing countries and their governments, with a $4.4bn (€4.1bn) claim by Gabriel Resources Ltd against Romania and a $764 million (€712,4m) one by Eco Oro Minerals Corp against Colombia.

The curious case of ‘Sultanate of Sulu’

Another firm spearheading such cases is the London-based legal financing giant Therium. In 2021, Therium backed the UK-based Victoria Oil & Gas against the Republic of Kazakhstan on the grounds that Astana breached an agreement with the company after kicking it out of the country to take over its own oil field. Victoria Oil & Gas lost the case.

But Therium scored a victory last year by funding the descendants of the long-vanished “Sultanate of Sulu,” who received a $15bn (€13.9bn) award from a French court against the Malaysian government. 

The case laid claim to profits from Malaysia’s oil and gas projects in the eastern region of Sabah, based on a defunct colonial-era treaty with the British Crown.

The claimant’s legal team also have links to oil and gas interests. 

Paul H Cohen of 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square, who openly talks of using European courts to confiscate “specific Malaysian assets” in multiple jurisdictions, has regularly represented oil and gas clients in international arbitrations.

Elisabeth Mason, another lawyer representing the Sulu heirs, works closely with executives from tech giants Google and Facebook. 

Famously, both have been accused of backing organisations involved in climate denial and making millions from ads for ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and Shell or entities like The American Petroleum Institute — all labelled by activists as attempts at “greenwashing”.

What is more important: interests of few, or our planet and its people?

I am not suggesting a conspiracy. These cases solely go to show how fossil fuel interests still hold extraordinary clout across sectors and national borders, despite ever-increasing proof that they are among those ultimately responsible for climate change and the ongoing climate emergency. 

The problem is systemic: there is a long-demonstrated preference for the interests of fossil fuel firms and their allies rather than the people and the planet.

No wonder UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently demanded that fossil fuel companies that do not set a “credible course for net zero” by 2030 “should not be in business”.

Governments must take this message seriously by joining forces to end this giant profit-making scheme against the planet.

How? Instead of being sued by them, governments should consider whether and how to hold fossil fuel firms liable for the damages their operations have caused to countless victims worldwide. The potential proceeds should be then invested in accelerating net zero. 

Otherwise, we will see more tragedies like what has befallen my country.

Professor İbrahim Özdemir is a UN advisor and an ecologist teaching at Üsküdar University. He has served as Director-General at the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Turkish Ministry of Education and was a leading member in drafting the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change endorsed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC.

At Euronews, we believe all views matter. Contact us at [email protected] to send pitches or submissions and be part of the conversation.

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Rescuers scramble in Turkey, Syria after earthquake kills 4,000

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Rescuers in Turkey and war-ravaged Syria searched through the frigid night into Tuesday, hoping to pull more survivors from the rubble after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 4,000 people and toppled thousands of buildings across a wide region.

Authorities feared the death toll from Monday’s pre-dawn earthquake and aftershocks would keep climbing as rescuers looked for survivors among tangles of metal and concrete spread across the region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war and refugee crisis.

Survivors cried out for help from within mountains of debris as first responders contended with rain and snow. Seismic activity continued to rattle the region, including another jolt nearly as powerful as the initial quake.

Workers carefully pulled away slabs of concrete and reached for bodies as desperate families waited for news of loved ones.

“My grandson is 1 1/2 years old. Please help them, please. … They were on the 12th floor,” Imran Bahur wept by her destroyed apartment building in the Turkish city of Adana on Monday.

Also Read | Why Turkey is prone to devastating earthquakes?

Tens of thousands who were left homeless in Turkey and Syria faced a night in the cold. In the Turkish city of Gaziantep, a provincial capital about 33 kilometres (20 miles) from the epicentre, people took refuge in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centres.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared seven days of national mourning.

US President Joe Biden called Erdogan to express condolences and offer assistance to the NATO ally. The White House said it was sending search-and-rescue teams to support Turkey’s efforts.

The quake, which was centred in Turkey’s southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, sent residents of Damascus and Beirut rushing into the street and was felt as far away as Cairo.

It piled more misery on a region that has seen tremendous suffering over the past decade. On the Syrian side, the area is divided between government-controlled territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. Turkey, meanwhile, is home to millions of refugees from the civil war.

In the rebel-held enclave, hundreds of families remained trapped in rubble, the opposition emergency organisation known as the White Helmets said in a statement. The area is packed with some 4 million people displaced from other parts of the country by the war. Many live in buildings that are already wrecked from military bombardments.

Strained medical centres quickly filled with injured people, rescue workers said. Some facilities had to be emptied, including a maternity hospital, according to the SAMS medical organisation.

More than 7,800 people were rescued across 10 provinces, according to Orhan Tatar, an official with Turkey’s disaster management authority.

The region sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in similarly powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Turkey in 1999.

The US Geological Survey measured Monday’s quake at 7.8, with a depth of 18 kilometres (11 miles). Hours later, a 7.5 magnitude temblor, likely triggered by the first, struck more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) away.

The second jolt caused a multistory apartment building in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa to topple onto the street in a cloud of dust as bystanders screamed, according to video of the scene.

Thousands of buildings were reported collapsed in a wide area extending from Syria’s cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey’s Diyarbakir, more than 330 kilometres (200 miles) to the northeast.

In Turkey alone, more than 5,600 buildings were destroyed, authorities said. Hospitals were damaged, and one collapsed in the city of Iskenderun.

Bitterly cold temperatures could reduce the time frame that rescuers have to save trapped survivors, said Dr. Steven Godby, an expert in natural hazards at Nottingham Trent University. The difficulty of working in areas beset by civil war would further complicate rescue efforts, he said.

Offers of help — from search-and-rescue teams to medical supplies and money — poured in from dozens of countries, as well as the European Union and NATO. The vast majority were for Turkey, with a Russian and even an Israeli promise of help to the Syrian government, but it was not clear if any would go to the devastated rebel-held pocket in the northwest.

The opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense described the situation in the enclave as “disastrous.” The opposition-held area, centred on the province of Idlib, has been under siege for years, with frequent Russian and government airstrikes. The territory depends on a flow of aid from Turkey for everything from food to medical supplies.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said 224 buildings in northwestern Syrian were destroyed and at least 325 were damaged, including aid warehouses. The U.N. had been assisting 2.7 million people each month via cross-border deliveries, which could now be disrupted.

At a hospital in Idlib, Osama Abdel Hamid said most of his neighbours died when their shared four-story building collapsed. As he fled with his wife and three children, a wooden door fell on them, shielding them from falling debris.

“God gave me a new lease on life,” he said.

In the small Syrian rebel-held town of Azmarin in the mountains by the Turkish border, the bodies of several dead children, wrapped in blankets, were brought to a hospital.

In the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, rescuers pulled two children alive from the rubble, and one could be seen lying on a stretcher on the snowy ground. Turkish broadcaster CNN Turk said a woman was pulled out alive in Gaziantep after a rescue dog detected her.

In Adana, 20 or so people, some in emergency rescue jackets, used power saws atop the concrete mountain of a collapsed building to open up space for any survivors to climb out or be rescued.

“I don’t have the strength anymore,” one survivor could be heard calling out from beneath the rubble of another building in Adana as rescue workers tried to reach him, said Muhammet Fatih Yavuz, a local resident.

In Diyarbakir, hundreds of rescue workers and civilians formed lines across a huge mound of wreckage, passing down broken concrete pieces and household belongings as they searched for trapped survivors.

At least 2,921 people were killed in 10 Turkish provinces, with nearly 16,000 injured, according to Turkish authorities.

The death toll in government-held areas of Syria climbed to 656 people, with some 1,400 injured, according to the Health Ministry. In the country’s rebel-held northwest, groups that operate there said at least 450 people died, with many hundreds injured.

Huseyin Yayman, a legislator from Turkey’s Hatay province, said several of his family members were stuck under the rubble of their collapsed homes.

“There are so many other people who are also trapped,” he told HaberTurk television by phone. “There are so many buildings that have been damaged. People are on the streets. It’s raining, it’s winter.”

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