The Sheer Scale of the Tragedy
“We have so far failed the people in north-west Syria."“They rightly feel abandoned. Looking for international help that hasn’t arrived.""My duty and our obligation is to correct this failure as fast as we can."Martin Griffiths, UN relief chief"We will follow this up meticulously until the necessary judicial process is concluded, especially for buildings that suffered heavy damage and caused deaths and injuries."Turkey’s vice-president, Fuat Oktay
Collapsed buildings in Antakya, Turkey. Photograph: Hassan Ayadi/AFP/Getty Images |
Rescuers
carry 12-year-old Cudie from the rubble of a collapsed building, in
Hatay, southern Turkey, 147 hours after the quake EPA |
Rescue teams from Austria and Germany withdrew temporarily to a base camp used by international volunteers, citing the dangers they've come across from firepower in the conflict between Turkey and Kurdish militias. Not far from the search-and-rescue areas, there was an attack on civilians, leaving 11 dead, at the hands of Islamic State terrorists. Because of threats, one of the Israeli search-and-rescue teams was forced to withdraw.
Beside collapsed buildings, others standing whole are experiencing looting. Some stores have begun to empty their shops of merchandise to keep them from being looted. Contrast that behaviour with that of desperate bystanders using their bare hands in the first three days after the tremblors to try to rescue trapped victims under steel and concrete. In Hatay province several days ago rescuers crouched under concrete slabs as they carefully reached into the rubble to rescue a ten-day-old newborn. His mother, also alive, they were carried to a field hospital.
This is winter, extreme cold and snow blankets the area. People trapped under the collapsed buildings would die from exposure as much as from their wounds. Those too exhausted and in pain to continue calling for help, would never see help arrive. In time their bodies would be exhumed and they would be identified, and buried. Miraculous recoveries of victims were still sporadically taking place days after the initial earthquake, but hope of finding more diminished as time consumed hope.
Now, attention turns to the struggle of survivors, homeless and traumatized, trying to maintain body heat in the winter weather, looking for food and water. "Especially in this cold, it is not possible to live here. If people haven't died from being stuck under the rubble, they'll die from the cold", said survivor Ahmet Tokgoz, calling for his government to evacuate people from the Turkish city of Antakya. Chances of finding anyone else yet alive are fast dwindling.
Labels: Earthquakes, Homeless, Lives Lost, Monumental Destruction, Syria, Turkey
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