Turkey-Syria earthquake: Total death toll surpasses 21,000

Deutsche Welle

09 Feb 2023, 16:51

Freezing conditions have deepened the misery for survivors of the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria earlier this week.

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The death toll from the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria earlier this week rose to more than 15,800 on Thursday, as rescuers scrambled for survivors trapped beneath the rubble in freezing winter conditions.

Turkish state news agency Anadolu Agency, citing the country's disaster management bureau, reported on Thursday that 12,873 people have died in Turkey alone from the quake.

Syria's health ministry, meanwhile, has calculated the death toll in government-controlled areas in the country at more than 1,200. The White Helmets responders group based in Syria's rebel-held region in the northwest said at least 1,600 people had died.

The Turkish government admitted on Wednesday that the country's disaster response could have been better.

Access to Twitter in the country — throttled following a flurry of online criticism of authorities — was restored early on Thursday after talks between the company and Turkish officials.

Aid convoy arrives in Syria

An aid convoy has reached northwestern Syria, news agencies said citing border crossing sources.

A correspondent for Agence France-Press (AFP) reported seeing six trucks passing through the crossing from Turkey, carrying tents and hygiene products.

Syrians need 'more of absolutely everything' — UN envoy

UN special envoy Geir Pedersen said that Syrians impacted by the earthquake need "more of absolutely everything.

He said that the UN had received assurances that aid would reach northwestern Syria on Thursday and demanded that aid not be "politicized."

"We were assured today that we would be able to get through the first assistance today" through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, Pedersen.

Aid trucks headed for Syria's northeast

United Nations sources say six trucks carrying international relief supplies are due to arrive in northwestern Syria on Thursday.

The trucks — the first convoy of humanitarian help for people in that affected area — are set to use the only remaining open Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey.

Until now, the World Health Organization (WHO) says that partially repaired roads were too badly damaged to use.

Even before the earthquake, the crossing was a lifeline for some 4.5 million people. Some 90% of the population in the region was already dependent on humanitarian help.

The German government's human rights commissioner, Luise Amtsberg, has called for the opening of more border crossings to Syria.

At the behest of Damascus and Moscow, only the Bab al-Hawa frontier post has been open for aid deliveries to Syria for years. Helping victims in Syria, a country still in a state of civil war, is proving more difficult than in Turkey and is diplomatically delicate.

"We have to make it clear that the Assad regime and Russia can now show that the plight of the people is more important to them than political calculations," said Amtsberg.

Summary of Turkey-Syria earthquake events on Wednesday

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country is working to open two additional border gates to Syria to enable humanitarian aid into the war-torn country.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said a donor conference for international aid for Syria and Turkey in the wake of Monday's devastating earthquake has been planned for March.

For the first time in 24 years, the Istanbul stock exchange announced that it is closing for five days in response to the earthquake.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited the disaster area, acknowledged "shortcomings" in his country's response to the huge earthquake.

The sanctions-hit Syrian government has put in an official request to the EU for emergency assistance through the civil protection mechanism, the bloc's commissioner for crisis management has said.

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