Erdogan compares earthquakes to “atomic bombs”, 35,418 dead in Turkey

by Henriette Chacar and Ali Kucukgocmen

KAHRAMANMARAS/ANTIOCHE, Turkey (Reuters) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday compared the impact of the two earthquakes that struck the country last week to “atomic bombs”, announcing the death toll at 35,418 and estimating that no any country would have faced the same difficulties as Turkey following such a disaster.

More than 2.2 million people have left the areas hit by the earthquakes, Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said, adding that the conditions for operations in these areas were improving day by day.

Rescuers managed to extract eight survivors from the rubble during the day, while aid workers try to help survivors left homeless in the freezing cold.

Among the eight people pulled alive from the rubble on Tuesday are two brothers, 17 and 21, who were trapped in a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras province, and a woman in the city of Hatay, Turkish media reported.

A 65-year-old Syrian national and a 15-year-old Syrian teenager were found alive under rubble in Antakya.

Rescuers still worked through the night to find survivors, but some teams began to scale back operations as low temperatures reduced chances of survival. Polish rescuers, who are among the many international teams that have flown into the country, said they would leave on Wednesday.

In the ruined Syrian city of Aleppo, Martin Griffiths, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, said on Monday the rescue phase was “nearing its end”, with the focus on shelter, food and schooling.

THE PRICE TO PAY

A first UN humanitarian aid convoy was able to reach the rebel area of ​​northwestern Syria on Tuesday, a UN spokesman said, after being authorized there the day before by Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

Raed Al Saleh, head of the White Helmets, volunteer rescuers operating in the rebel area, denounced the agreement, saying it gave Bashar al Assad a “free political advantage” while the Syrian leader has obtained over the years the closure from almost all crossing points with Turkey.

The total death toll in Syria, a country ravaged by more than a decade of civil war, stands at 5,814, including in rebel-held areas.

The UN estimated on Tuesday that nearly nine million people in Syria had been affected by the devastating earthquakes and appealed for funding for $400 million to meet humanitarian needs over the next three months.

According to the Turkish Entrepreneurship and Business Confederation, the disaster could cost Turkey $84 billion. For his part, the Turkish Minister of Urbanization, Murat Kurum, estimates that some 42,000 buildings in ten cities have collapsed, must be demolished urgently or have been seriously damaged.

Dozens of residents and relief workers expressed their dismay at the lack of water, food, medicine, body bags and cranes in the first days after the quake, and many criticized the slow pace and the centralization of the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) response.

“People didn’t die because of the earthquake, they died because of the precautions that weren’t taken earlier,” said Said Qudsi who had traveled to Kahramanmaras from Istanbul to bury his uncle, his aunt and their two sons, while their two daughters are still missing.

(with contributions from Parisa Hafezi, Maya Gebeily, Daren Butler, Ezgi Erkoyun, Jonathan Spicer, Timour Azhari and Mehmet Caliskan, written by Stephen Coates; French version Kate Entringer, Tangi Salaün and Jean Terzian, edited by Blandine Hénault and Nicolas Delame)