More than 9,000 people have died in earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. worst in 10 years

Gaziantep – Earthquakes in southern Turkey and northern Syria have killed more than 9,400 people, making them the deadliest seismic event in more than a decade.

Turkish officials on Wednesday updated the country’s death toll to 6,957. Nearby Syria reported 1,250 deaths from Monday’s pre-dawn earthquake in government-controlled areas. The White Helmets, volunteer first responders in rebel-held enclaves, have reported 1,280 deaths.

More than 30,000 people have been injured, and officials expect the death toll to continue to climb as rescue workers race to pull survivors from the rubble across cities and towns across the country.

In 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan, triggering a tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people. In 2015, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Nepal, killing more than 8,800 people.

This is breaking news. Here’s AP’s previous story:

GAZIANTEP, Turkey (AP) — Working through the night until Wednesday, their sometimes grueling task was to drag more bodies out of the rubble of thousands of buildings that collapsed in Turkey and Syria after a devastating earthquake that killed more than 8,000 people. , the joy of finding someone still alive.

Turkey’s disaster management agency said the country’s death toll rose to 6,234 as more bodies were recovered. More than 8,000 deaths have been reported, including from neighboring Syria.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to travel to the town of Pazardjik, the epicenter of the quake, and the worst-hit Hatay province on Wednesday, as the government calls for more aid to be sent to the affected areas. I got

Turkey currently has around 60,000 aid personnel in the quake-hit areas, but many are still waiting for help because of the extensive damage.

Nearly two days after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, rescuers pulled Arif Khan, a three-year-old boy, from under the rubble of a collapsed apartment in Karamanmaras, a city not far from the epicenter. raised.

With the boy’s lower body trapped under a slab of concrete and twisting rebar, paramedics covered his torso with a blanket to protect him from freezing temperatures and potentially trigger another collapse. Lay down and carefully separate the debris from him.

When his son was rescued and taken to an ambulance, the boy’s father, Ertugrul Kisi himself, had been rescued earlier and sobbed.

“For now, Kahramammaras’ hopeful name is Arif Kaan,” declared a Turkish TV reporter as the dramatic rescue was broadcast to the country.

Hours later, rescuers pulled 10-year-old Betul Edith from the rubble of his home in Adiyaman city. To the applause of her onlookers, her grandfather kissed and spoke softly to her as she was loaded into her ambulance.

But such stories have swept vast areas less than two days after Monday’s pre-dawn quake, with thousands of buildings collapsing and frigid temperatures and ongoing aftershocks complicating rescue efforts. rice field.

Find a team above twenty countries I joined the Turkish emergency services and was flooded with promises of aid.

But as devastation spreads across cities and towns, some stranded by the ongoing Syrian civil war, the cries have subsided amidst the rubble and desperation has risen among those still waiting for help.

In Syria, tremors have caused thousands of buildings to collapse, wreaking further misery in areas devastated by the destruction of the country. 12 Years of Civil War and Refugee Crisis.

On Monday afternoon, residents of a town in northwestern Syria found a crying newborn He is still connected to his late mother by the umbilical cord. The baby was the only member of her family to survive a building collapse in the small town of Jinderis, her relatives told The Associated Press.

Turkey is home to millions of refugees from the war. Syria’s affected areas are divided between government-controlled territory and the last opposition-held enclaves in the country, where millions of people rely on humanitarian aid.

Adelheid Marchand, senior emergency officer at the World Health Organization, said as many as 23 million people could be affected in the quake-hit areas, which he called “multiple crises. called a crisis.

Many Turkish survivors sleep in a car, outside, or in a government shelter.

“We don’t have a tent, a stove, nothing. Our kids are sick. We’re all wet and the kids are out in the cold,” said Aisan, 27. Kurt told the Associated Press. “We didn’t die of hunger or an earthquake, but we would freeze to death in the cold.”

Erdogan said 13 million of the country’s 85 million people were affected and declared a state of emergency in 10 states. More than 8,000 people were pulled from the rubble in Turkey and about 380,000 took refuge in government shelters and hotels, officials said.

in Syria, Aid efforts are hampered With the ongoing war and the isolation of rebel-held areas along the border surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. Syria itself is an international pariah under Western sanctions related to the war.

The United Nations said it was “exploring all means” to bring supplies to the rebel-held northwest.

A further 37,011 were injured in addition to the thousands killed in Turkey.

The death toll in government-controlled areas of Syria has reached 812, with about 1,400 injured, according to the Ministry of Health. At least 1,020 people were killed and more than 2,300 wounded in the rebel-held northwest, according to volunteer first responders known as the White Helmets.

The region lies on a major fault line, shaking frequently in earthquakesA similar earthquake that struck northwestern Turkey in 1999 killed about 18,000 people.

___

Alsayed was reported from Bab al-Hawa, Syria. Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. David Rising of Bangkok and Robert Badendiek of Istanbul contributed to this story.