The balance sheet continues to grow.
The earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria on Monday killed more than 8,700 people and injured more than 40,000, according to the latest official reports published on Wednesday.
Authorities in both countries reported that 6,234 people died in Turkey and 2,470 in Syria, bringing the total death toll to 8,704.
The public body for disaster management (Afad) has reported 37,011 people injured, the Syrian authorities report 3,640. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to visit several affected cities today.
Invited on Franceinfo this Wednesday morning, the Turkish ambassador to France, Ali Onaner did not hide his pessimism about the results: “We do not have an exact number of missing.
But the death toll is likely to rise.
We have identified nearly 6,000 collapsed buildings.
Indeed, Afad mentioned 5,775 destroyed buildings, public television TRT pointed out on Tuesday, but more than 11,000 could be permanently damaged.
In total, twenty-three million people are “potentially exposed, including around five million vulnerable people”, warned the World Health Organization (WHO).
Another consequence of the tremors: a violent fire broke out on Monday in the port of Iskenderun, in southern Turkey near the Syrian border.
The flames continued to spread on Tuesday evening.
Rescuers still on the job
Between the international aid flowing to the disaster areas and the vast mobilization of Turkish relief, search operations are continuing, more than 48 hours after the first earthquake.
In total, nearly 80,000 volunteers are busy helping the victims, Afad communicated in its 6:15 am report on Wednesday, so the bad weather and the cold complicate their task.
“Our priority is to be able to save as many people as possible.
It's not like the 1999 earthquake where you could expect miracles 5-6 days later,” acknowledged Ali Onaner.
🗣 "Any help is good to take. The departure of NGOs to Turkey can be more difficult to coordinate, that's why we have favored the aid that the French State has sent", explains Ali Onaner. 'today, the most effective help is to make transfers" to NGOs pic.twitter.com/MeoNCuNXO5
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) February 8, 2023
About 5,300 additional rescuers are expected to arrive from abroad in the coming hours, according to Afad.
Help widely welcomed by Ali Onaner: “Turkey has very experienced research teams, but their number is not enough, that's why our partners have sent us teams.
We are grateful to France for sending 73 experienced military personnel yesterday.
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Survivors found more than two days after the earthquake
Early this Wednesday morning, a woman was found alive in Kahramanmaras and rescued nearly 52 hours after the earthquake, testifies the TRT.
She was transported to hospital by paramedics.
The day before, a 4-year-old boy had also been taken care of by the emergency services in the city, according to the daily Cumhuriyet.
Kurtarma çalışmaları sürüyor.
Kahramanmaraş'ta ekipler 52 saat sonra bir kişiyi daha canlı olarak enkaz altından çıkardı.https://t.co/m4DjKqHF6c pic.twitter.com/YWE1Po8xCT
— TRT Haber Canlı (@trthabercanli) February 8, 2023
Minutes later, another woman was pulled from the ruins of a building still in Kahramanmaras, one of the towns closest to the epicenter.
Cumhuriyet also reports that four people, a 4-year-old boy, a 15-year-old girl, a 35-year-old woman and a 39-year-old man were rescued alive and conscious in Hatay, 46 hours after the quake.
In Jandairis, on the Syrian side, a newborn baby was brought out alive from the rubble.
This little girl was still connected by the umbilical cord to her mother, who died like all the other members of the family.
More than 450,000 survivors accommodated
In a new statement, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said Tuesday evening that 451,880 people were currently in temporary accommodation deployed by the authorities.
More than 50,000 tents and 1.5 million blankets have already been distributed to the victims.
President Erdogan has decreed a seven-day national mourning since Monday evening: "Our flag will be hoisted at half mast until sunset on Sunday, February 12, 2023, in all our national and foreign representations", he specified on Twitter.
The state of emergency was also triggered in the ten provinces affected by the earthquake "to allow the work (relief) to be carried out quickly", a measure is in place for three months.