More than 34,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands injured after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria on Monday last.
Turkish officials Sunday detained or issued arrest warrants for some 131 people allegedly involved in shoddy and illegal construction methods of buildings which have collapsed after a pair of earthquakes hit the country last week. Turkey’s justice minister has vowed to punish anyone responsible, and prosecutors have begun gathering samples of buildings for evidence on materials used in constructions.
Residents of Turkey Sunday expressed their frustration over delayed and “painfully slow” rescue operations after a pair of earthquakes hit the country last week. Sorrow and disbelief have turned to anger and tension over a sense that there has been an ineffective, unfair and disproportionate response to the historic disaster.
A convoy of 10 United Nations aid trucks entered northwest Syria through the Bab Al-Hawa Turkish border crossing on Sunday, UNOCHA spokesperson Madevi Sun-Suon said.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has promised to bolster aid for Turkey as the country grapples with the aftermath of last Monday’s devastating earthquake.
In a phone call Sunday, Von der Leyen told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “the Commission will mobilize additional support and respond to Türkiye’s latest request for more shelter capacity — in particular tents, blankets, heaters,” according to an EU readout of the call.
Meanwhile, the seventh Operation Dost flight reached earthquake-hit Syria on Sunday with over 23 tons of relief material which was received by Deputy Minister of Local Administration & Environment Moutaz Douaji at Damascus airport. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the flight is carrying more than 35 tons of relief material, of which over 23 tons is headed for relief efforts in Syria, and around 12 tons to Turkey.
Volunteers struggling to find ever fewer survivors in the quake-hit Turkish city of Antakya said on Saturday ransacking and hygiene problems were adding to their daunting task.
One resident, searching for a colleague buried in a collapsed building, said he witnessed looting in the first days after Monday’s quake before leaving the city for a village.
“People were smashing the windows and fences of shops and cars,” said Mehmet Bok, 26, now back in Antakya and searching for a work colleague in a collapsed building.
