Over 24,000 Dead in Turkey-Syria Earthquake... "Urgent Support Needed"

On the afternoon of the 10th (local time), buildings in the city of Antakya, Hatay, Turkey, collapsed due to an earthquake. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] The death toll from the earthquake that struck T?rkiye and Syria has surpassed 24,000.

According to Bloomberg and other sources on the 11th (local time), the combined death toll in the two countries, as reported by Turkish authorities and Syrian human rights organizations, has exceeded 24,150. Tens of thousands remain missing.

On the same day, Turkish fire authorities announced that the domestic death toll alone has already surpassed 20,000. More than 80,000 injured have been transported to hospitals.

Although miraculous survival stories continue to emerge, the frequency is decreasing as the "golden time" passes. A 70-year-old woman was dramatically rescued after 122 hours from a collapsed apartment building in Kahramanmara?. In Antakya, three brothers were rescued side by side from the rubble of a collapsed five-story apartment building. Rescue teams dug through the debris for over nine hours and successfully pulled the brothers out one by one. However, due to the massive scale of the damage and harsh weather conditions including subzero temperatures, rescue efforts are facing difficulties.

In Syria, the civilian rescue group known as the Syria Civil Defense (commonly called the White Helmets), which has led rescue operations in rebel-held areas on behalf of the government, has decided to focus on recovering the deceased rather than rescue operations. The White Helmets announced that they have ended rescue activities in most rebel-held areas in northern and northwestern Syria. Although searches for survivors are still ongoing in some areas, they expect these to conclude within 48 hours.

The White Helmets reported, "Since the earthquake, 3,384 people have been confirmed dead," adding, "We conducted intensive searches for 108 hours after the earthquake, but the likelihood of survivors trapped under the rubble is slim."

Miryana Spoljaric, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), called for immediate humanitarian aid to northern Syria. In a statement, she emphasized, "The most important thing now is that humanitarian aid must be accessible in all areas of northern Syria," and added, "Fair humanitarian aid must not be obstructed or politicized."

The United Nations also reported that at least 870,000 people in both T?rkiye and Syria require urgent food and other assistance, and that 5.3 million people in Syria have lost their homes.