The residents of the city of Gazintep in Turkey who abandoned their apartments following the earthquake (Yoav Itiel)
Locating the missing and rescuing those trapped among the ruins of buildings are the most urgent tasks for the emergency and rescue forces operating following the great earthquake that hit Turkey yesterday (Monday).
So far, ten districts in the country have been designated as disaster areas.
An estimated 8,000 people have already been rescued alive.
But, more than ten thousand people have already been found dead.
According to the United Nations, the rescuers, who work in the harsh weather conditions, have a window of opportunity of a week after which the chances of survival become slim. This, with a severe lack of engineering tools. At the same time, the authorities have to deal with increasing numbers of citizens left without a roof over their heads, After about 6,000 buildings collapsed, these refugees are added to refugees from a decade of civil war in Syria and the millions who left their homes in Ukraine following the Russian attack.
The rescue team in search of survivors (Photo: Reuters)
For example, in the city of Gaziantep, where a delegation of the Ihud and Salva organization landed, mayor Fatma Sahin said yesterday that in one of its quarters, where 60 thousand residents lived, half of the buildings were completely destroyed.
The United Nations estimates that half of the residents in the districts designated as "disaster areas" have become refugees. This means that millions of people were left homeless in the middle of winter. Some of them were apparently refugees before, fled the war in Syria, found refuge in Turkey and are now homeless.
The newly homeless in the city of Gaziantep have found refuge in mosques, schools, parks and even in their cars. The Israeli Rescue Union delegation encountered several dozen such refugees already at the terminal. "There is no water, electricity or gas in the houses, only in the government buildings," said Wala Mustafa, a student resident of the city of Ben Twenty who came with his family members and dozens more to the airport terminal to warm up, rest and take a nap. "We are afraid," he admitted, "we are here because we are safe here."
Rashid, a thirty-year-old teacher, also arrived at the terminal with his wife and other family members, also spoke of the fear following the earthquake.
"The situation in the city is very bad. At first, during the big earthquake, at first I thought my wife was dead," he said, "I picked her up and then we were in the car for two days. But it was very cold and we had no food. It is very difficult."
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"There is no water, electricity or gas in the houses", ruins after the earthquake in Turkey (Photo: Reuters)
On the way to the city of Kermanmarsh, which was also badly hit by the disaster, there are long lines at the gas stations.
The main road is closed to traffic and the side roads are lined with potholes and potholes, and next to them more and more damage is evident the closer you get to it.
In a field outside the city tonight, the Home Front Command was stationed, and at the same time as the rescues that immediately began in the city, the soldiers are also busy with the establishment of an Israeli compound next to the German compound and three other countries.
The United Nations is coordinating the efforts. According to the spokesman of the United Nations Agency for the Coordination of Humanitarian Operations (OCHA) Jens Larka, 13 international delegations have already arrived to help and another 39 delegations are on their way.
Aid mission of the Medical Corps to Turkey (photo: IDF spokesperson)
Spanning several fault lines, Turkey is one of the most seismologically active regions in the world.
The earthquake that occurred on Monday, with a magnitude of 7.8, was the most powerful measured in the country since 1999, and there are even experts who claim that it was the strongest noise in the country ever.
It is also the strongest earthquake in the region in a hundred years.
The main centers of the disaster are southern Turkey and northern Syria.
Since the initial quake, dozens of aftershocks and weaker earthquakes have been recorded in Turkey since yesterday, including one yesterday morning with a magnitude of 5.7.
In Syria, more than 1,900 people were killed and thousands were injured as a result of the earthquake.
According to the official news agency,
1,449 people were injured in regime-controlled areas of Aleppo - Latakia, Hamat, Idlib and Tartus.
Also 2,500 were injured in opposition controlled areas.
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