A series of dramatic rescues Friday brought rare moments of relief amid the devastation left by the catastrophic 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria, killing more than 23,000.
Meanwhile, the death toll continued to rise as Turkey’s disaster management agency said Friday more than 19,300 people had been confirmed dead with more than 77,000 injured. More than 3,300 have been confirmed dead in Syria.
Rescuers searched mountains of rubble for a fifth day as hopes of finding survivors faded. Experts say people trapped under rubble can live for a week or more, but freezing temperatures dim the chances.
Still, emergency crews Friday rescued several people trapped under crushed buildings for nearly 100 hours or more.
Adnan Muhammed Korkut, 17, was pulled from a basement in western Turkey’s Gaziantep Province. While trapped for 94 hours, Korkut was forced to drink his own urine to survive. Relatives wept as he was rescued, and he embraced his mother and others as he was taken to an ambulance.
In Adıyaman, a city in southeastern Turkey, a 4-year-old was given a jelly bean to calm him as he was rescued from the remnants his home 105 hours after the earthquake struck. Six people in a high-rise in the coastal city of Iskenderun were rescued after crews identified nine people trapped in the debris. And in hard-hit Kahramanmaras, an emergency worker played a pop song to distract to teenage sisters as they were rescued.
While touring Adıyaman on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said search-and-rescue efforts would continue until no one is left trapped under the rubble. He also renewed promises to rebuild buildings within a year and said the government would subsidize people’s rents for one year.
PREVIOUS UPDATES:Turkey evacuates thousands; UN aid reaches Syria
Developments:
►The bodies of about 720 Syrians who died in Turkey were brought home for burial through a border crossing, Mazen Alloush, an official on the Syrian side of the border, said Friday.
►The United Nation’s World Food Program announced Friday it has appealed for $77 million to provide food rations and hot meals for 874,000 people affected by the deadly earthquake in Syria and Turkey.
►State Department spokesman Ned Price confirmed Thursday the deaths of three American citizens in the earthquake. Price could not say if the Americans were killed in Turkey or Syria.
►The U.S. pledged to provide $85 million in initial aid. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department said Thursday it would lift sanctions on Syria for six months to allow aid to reach the war-torn nation.
►As of Thursday afternoon, 95 countries have offered help, and 6,479 rescuers from 56 countries are working in areas affected by the earthquake, Turkey’s foreign ministry said.
HOW TO HELP:Relief efforts ongoing after deadliest earthquake in years
10-day-old baby rescued in Turkey
Yağız Ulaş and his mother were rescued 90 hours after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria.
He was 10 days old at the time of his rescue — 90 hours after the quake, according to the mayor of Istanbul.
— Marina Pitofsky
More details:10-day-old baby boy, mother rescued from rubble
Three pulled from rubble alive in Syria
Paramedics successfully extracted three family members from the ruins of a building in coastal Jablah, Syrian state news agency SANA reported.
A 60-year-old mother and her two adult children were rushed away in ambulances late Friday, five days after the earthquake.
Chances of finding survivors are narrowing, although experts say people can live for a week or more. The rescues Friday provided reasons for joy amid the misery gripping the region. Cemeteries and morgues were overwhelmed as the death toll continued to climb.
Death on an unimaginable scale
With morgues and cemeteries overwhelmed, bodies were wrapped in blankets and tarps along city streets as Turkey grappled with a death toll of unimaginable scale.
A sports hall in the hard-hit city of Kahramanmaras was turned into a makeshift morgue where family members gathered to identify the bodies of loved ones. One man wept over a black body bag.
“I’m 70 years old,” he cried, “God should have taken me, not my son.”
DEATH TOLL RISES:Some areas will be ‘uninhabitable for years’
Syrian president accuses Western countries of politicizing crisis
Syrian President Bashar Assad accused Western countries of politicizing the crisis in the country, during his first public appearance Friday in a disaster area since the earthquake.
“The West has no humanitarianism, therefore politicizing the situation in Syria is something they would naturally do,” Assad said during a trip to visit survivors in Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city.
Aleppo was among the worst-hit Syrian cities, and had already suffered damage from years of heavy bombardment during the country’s civil war.
Meanwhile, the Syrian government announced Friday it will allow earthquake aid to all parts of the country, including areas held by insurgent groups in the northwest.
The first U.N. aid trucks reached northwestern Syria, a spokesperson confirmed to the Associated Press on Friday. The delay underscored the difficulties getting help to the region. The U.N. drew criticism from local crews for not working harder to deliver aid more quickly.
Winter weather and damage to roads and airports also have hampered aid to both Turkey and Syria.
TURKEY EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE:Photos capture devastating aftermath
Millions of Syrians left homeless
As many as 5.3 million people may have been left homeless in Syria as authorities in both countries rush to distribute hot meals, tents and blankets, struggling to reach many people in need amid freezing temperatures, the U.N. refugee agency said.
The destruction of homes in Syria exacerbates displacement in the country after 6.8 million people had already been displaced after war broke out in 2011, driving Syrians from their homes.
Building codes partially blamed for devastation
Experts are pointing to poor construction and ignored building codes for exacerbating the devastation.
Turkey has for years not enforced modern construction codes, including earthquake-engineering standards, amid real estate booms in earthquake-prone areas, engineers have said. They say the problem was largely ignored because addressing it would be expensive and hinder economic growth.
“This is a disaster caused by shoddy construction,” said David Alexander, a professor of emergency planning at University College London.
WHY IS TURKEY A HOTSPOT FOR EARTHQUAKES?:Deadly earthquakes have hit Turkey before
Eyup Muhcu, president of the Chamber of Architects of Turkey, said many buildings that crumbled in the earthquake were built with inferior materials and methods, often not complying with construction standards.
“The building stock in the area was weak and not sturdy, despite the reality of earthquakes,” Muhcu said.
Turkish president admits to slow government response
Government response to earthquakes in the country’s southern regions was not as fast as authorities wanted, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Friday, according to Al Jazeera.
“So many buildings were damaged that unfortunately, we were not able to speed up our interventions as quickly as we had desired,” Erdogan said while visiting the hard-hit southern city of Adiyaman.
The day before, Erdogan conceded there were “shortcomings” in government disaster response, Al Jazeera reported.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
