Families in southern Turkey and Syria endured a second night in the bitter cold as overworked rescuers hurried to extricate survivors from the wreckage two days after a devastating earthquake that claimed the lives of more than 9,600 people.
Many people in the disaster area slept in their cars or on the streets beneath blankets because they were afraid to enter the structures that had been rattled by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck and was already Turkey’s worst since 1999.
Rescuers there and in neighbouring Syria issued a warning that the death toll might continue to rise since several survivors reported that assistance had not yet arrived. “As the disaster’s scope became more and more clear, the number of fatalities in Turkey exceeded 7,100.
In Turkey and northern Syria, it caused tens of thousands of injuries, toppled thousands of structures, including hospitals, schools, and apartment buildings, and rendered vast numbers of people homeless.
Rescue teams have had difficulty getting to some of the worst-affected communities due to damaged roads, bad weather, a shortage of supplies, and a lack of heavy equipment.
A rescue organization in Syria’s insurgent-held northwest reported that the death toll had increased to over 1,280 and that over 2,600 people had been injured.