Rescuers work against time as Turkey-Syria quake death toll passes 7,800
Rescuers worked against time in harsh winter conditions on Tuesday evening, trying to dig people out of the rubble of collapsed buildings as the death toll from Turkey and Syria's devastating earthquake jumped to more than 7,900.
Turkish authorities say some 13.5 million people were affected in an area spanning roughly 450 km (280 miles) from Adana in the west to Diyarbakir in the east, and 300 km from Malatya in the north to Hatay in the south.
Syrian authorities have reported deaths as far south as Hama, some 250 km from the epicentre.
Monday's (February 6) magnitude 7.8 quake, followed hours later by a second one almost as powerful, toppled thousands of buildings including hospitals, schools and apartment blocks, injured tens of thousands, and left countless people homeless in Turkey and northern Syria.
Rescue workers struggled to reach some of the worst-hit areas, held back by destroyed roads, poor weather and a lack of resources and heavy equipment. Some areas were without fuel and electricity.
As the scale of the disaster became ever more apparent, the death toll looked likely to rise considerably. One U.N. official said thousands of children may have died.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces. But residents in several damaged Turkish cities voiced anger and despair at what they said was a slow and inadequate response from the authorities to the deadliest earthquake to hit Turkey since 1999.
Wringing their hands in stunned silence, Adana's elderly were preparing to spend their second night on the wooden floors and worn sofas of a school-turned-shelter after the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey this week.
They fled on foot with almost nothing, helped by younger neighbours or relatives. Their children and teenage grandchildren dashed back into their now unstable homes for absolute essentials, mostly a few blankets and medicine packets.
In this city in southern Turkey, the elderly now sat in wool hats in a chilly school auditorium - where at least temperatures were warmer than for those camping out around bonfires or in their cars outside.
The tremor that struck in the early hours of Monday (February 6) has killed at least 6,300 people across Turkey and Syria.
Kemal, 86, and his 60-year-old daughter had clutched onto each other as they wobbled down the four storeys of their shaking building - with only his walker in tow so he could make it to the school on foot.
"I wasn't afraid for myself, I was worried about my daughters," recounted Kemal, his legs lifted onto a second chair and tucked under a blanket to stay warm.
He was surrounded by his three daughters and their children - several generations of displaced.
One daughter said she had clambered back into their apartment to get the medications to treat illnesses in his heart, back and blood. She told Reuters she kept thinking she was dying.
Koca Halil Budak - in his 80s - said he had survived an earthquake at age 8 and was lucky to have made it through his second, which struck when he was visiting his son in Adana.
"I tried to hold the cupboard, it was shaking... My son said 'dad don't be afraid,' so we got dressed and went outside," Budak said - also surrounded by his wife and their children.
Crowds chanted 'God is great' as White Helmet rescue workers pulled out earthquake survivors from the rubble in Idlib, Syria on Tuesday.
Aid officials voiced particular concern about the situation in Syria, already afflicted by a humanitarian crisis after nearly 12 years of civil war.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday the United States remained 'focused' on aid and relief efforts in Turkey following a deadly earthquake that killed thousands across a swathe of Turkey and neighbouring northwest Syria.
A day earlier, Blinken, the Biden administration's top diplomat, spoke to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu by phone to aid in rescue and recovery operations.
Washington has deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team and is in the process of deploying two urban search and rescue teams from Virginia and California that are expected to comprise 79 people each, the US Agency for International Development said.
USAID DART (Disaster Assistance Response Team) personnel boarded a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft headed for Turkey on Monday to help in the rescue efforts after a devastating earthquake hit Turkey and Syria.
Earlier Air Force members from the 436th Aerial Port Squadron helped to load bulks of supplies onto the US Air Force plane to aid operations after the worst earthquake to hit the region in almost a century.
USAID Administrator Samantha Power offered condolences to the people of Syria and Turkey and said the United States was "committed to supporting the recovery effort from this earthquake in an urgent manner."
