Hopes for Turkiye-Syria rescue diminish, and resentment increases as death toll surpass 16,000

 

As hope waned of discovering additional survivors among the rubble of the ravaged towns and villages, the death toll from the Turkiye-Syria earthquakes passed 16,000 on Thursday.

People waited in anguish among the mountains of wreckage where loved ones might still be buried while searching for temporary shelter and food in the icy winter weather.

Rescuers kept finding a number of survivors. However, many Turks have bemoaned a lack of tools, expertise, and help for stranded people's rescue, sometimes even when they could hear cries for help.

In some impacted locations, sources claim that barely 2 to 3 per cent of collapsed structures have been reached by authorities.

"What state is it? They've been gone for two days, but where? We are pleading with them. In the city of Malatya, Sabiha Alinak yelled at a fallen structure where her young family were trapped, "Let us do it, we can get them out.

In front of an Antakya hospital, several victims were lined up in a line, some wrapped in blankets and sheets and others in body bags. Melek, 64, a survivor, reported not seeing any rescue teams. We're going to freeze or starve to death here, even though we escaped the earthquake.

Similar pictures could be seen in northern Syria, which was also severely affected by Monday's two enormous earthquakes. The Syrian envoy to the UN acknowledged that the Damascus administration lacked "capabilities and equipment," which he attributed to Western sanctions.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, acknowledged that his country's early response to the disaster had been insufficient but believed it was getting better.

"Tomorrow and in the future, we'll be better. On a visit to Kahramanmaras to survey the damage and observe the rescue and relief operation, Erdogan said, "We still have some fuel concerns, but we will overcome those too.

Whole streets were reduced to rubble in Kahramanmaras, the city closest to the epicentre of the earthquake, and smoke plumes ascended from fires. A stadium had been transformed into a giant tent city. About fifty blanket-wrapped bodies blanketed the floor of a sports hall.