Turkey and Syria earthquake: death toll passes 11,000 as anger grows over official response – latest updates

Cold weather continues to be expected in the region struck by Monday’s quake. The BBC’s Turkish language service reports that Turkey’s meteorological service has predicted minimum and maximum temperatures for Kahramanmaraş today as -6C and 1C (21-34F), and for Gaziantep between -5C and 1C (23-34F). Diyarbakır is expected to have continued snowfall, with temperatures climbing to 2C (35F) at most.

The White Helmets in Syria, who have been conducting rescue operations in the rebel-held north-west of the civil war-wracked country have posted to social media to state that four of their volunteers and their families are among the victims of the quake there.

This aerial drone footage taken over the Turkish city of Kahramanmaraş shows the scale of destruction two days after the quake shook south-east Turkey. Buildings can be seen in the footage reduced to just debris and collapsed concrete mounds.

Some families have been forced to try to shelter in the streets in Turkey, while others have been lucky enough to find trains or state buildings to use as temporary accommodation.

AFP reports that in Gaziantep in Turkey, shops are closed and there is no heat because gas lines have been cut to avoid explosions. Finding petrol was tough. About 100 people wrapped in blankets slept in the lounge of an airport terminal, it reports.

“We saw the buildings collapse so we know we are lucky to be alive,” said Zahide Sutcu, who went to the airport with her two small children.

“But now our lives have so much uncertainty. How will I look after these children?”

In Kahramanmaraş, reporters spoke to Ali Sagiroglu, who expressed frustration at the response of emergency services.

“I can’t get my brother back from the ruins. I can’t get my nephew back. Look around here. There is no state official here, for God’s sake,” he said.

“For two days we haven’t seen the state around here. Children are freezing from the cold.”

Turkey’s disaster management authority has raised the official death toll from Monday’s quake up to 7,108 people. The combined total, with the 2,470 deaths recorded officially in Syria, has reached 9,578.

The numbers are expected to continue to rise as further rescue work and excavations are carried out. Emergency services have been hampered by poor weather.

Turkey has revised up the death toll again from the earthquake, with authorities now saying that 6,957 people have been killed there. With the 2,470 deaths in Syria included, the total number killed by Monday’s quake now stands at 9,427.

In the UK, the newly appointed chair of the ruling Conservative party said the country would be ready to respond to any further requests from Turkey for support.

Greg Hands defended the UK’s commitment to foreign aid spending which the Government slashed from 0.7% to 0.5% in 2021.

He told viewers of Sky News in the UK: “We stand ready to provide more assistance should further requests come through.”

Asked about financial aid to the region, he said: “We already provide, of course, a lot to the region. We’re one of the biggest bilateral donors, and particularly to Syria.

“I think that will be something that would have to be looked at in the round as and when requests come in for that assistance.”

“The UK, of course, shapes up very favourably when it comes to our aid budget overall,” he said. “And obviously we have the commitment to restore the aid budget as soon as we’re able, the fiscal position here in the UK allows us. There’s been no reduction to aid to the region. We remain one of the biggest bilateral donors in particular to Syria. The awful situation has been going on there obviously in advance of the earthquake.”

Here is a summary from Associated Press of some of the international aid efforts that are being sent to Turkey and Syria.

• The European Union has mobilized search and rescue teams to help Turkey, while the bloc’s Copernicus satellite system has been activated to provide emergency mapping services. At least 19 member countries have offered assistance.

• The US is coordinating immediate assistance to Turkey, including teams to support search and rescue efforts. In California, nearly 100 Los Angeles County firefighters and structural engineers, along with six specially trained dogs, were being sent to Turkey.

• Russia as sent rescue team to Syria, where Russian military deployed in that country already had sent ten units comprising 300 people to help clear debris and search for survivors. The Russian military has set up points to distribute humanitarian assistance. Russia also has offered help to Turkey, which has been accepted.

• Israel’s army is sending a search and rescue team of 150 engineers, medical personnel and other aid workers to render lifesaving aid in Turkey. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has also approved a request for humanitarian aid for Syria, although it remains unclear who made the request and how it would be delivered. Syria and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations.

• A team of 82 rescuers sent by China has arrived in Adana, Turkey. They include specialists in search and rescue as well as medical treatment, and they brought in 21 tons of rescue equipment and supplies.

Greece, Lebanon, Germany, South Korea, Algeria, Pakistan, Japan, the UK and Australia are among many other countries to send or promise assistance.

This girl was rescued after being trapped for 40 hours in Salqin, Idlib:

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to travel to town of Pazarcık, near the epicentre of the quake, and to the worst-hit province of Hatay on Wednesday, Associated Press reports.

Nearly two days after the magnitude 7.8 quake struck south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria, killing more than 8,500 people, search teams from more than two dozen countries have joined the Turkish emergency personnel, and aid pledges have been pouring in.

Many survivors in Turkey have had to sleep in cars, outside or in government shelters.

“We don’t have a tent, we don’t have a heating stove, we don’t have anything. Our children are in bad shape. We are all getting wet under the rain and our kids are out in the cold,” Aysan Kurt, 27, told the AP. “We did not die from hunger or the earthquake, but we will die freezing from the cold.”

In Syria, aid efforts have been hampered by the ongoing war and the isolation of the rebel-held region along the border, which is surrounded by Russia-backed government forces. Syria itself is an international pariah under western sanctions linked to the war.

Here are some of the latest images to be sent to us over the news wires from the disaster zone.