Turkey-Syria earthquake deadliest in decade as toll passes 11,000
- Rescuers in Turkey and Syria battled bitter cold in a race against time to find survivors under buildings
- Dozens of nations have pledged help, and search teams as well as relief supplies have begun to arrive
The death toll of a devastating earthquake in southern Turkey and Syria passed 11,000 on Wednesday, as rescuers worked against time in harsh winter conditions to dig survivors out of the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Turkey’s disaster management agency said the country’s death toll passed 8,500. The Syrian Health Ministry said the death toll in government-held areas has climbed past 1,200, while at least 1,400 people have died in the rebel-held northwest, according to volunteer first responders known as the White Helmets.
That makes the quake the world’s deadliest in more than a decade. It surpassed the 8,800 killed in a magnitude-7.8 earthquake in Nepal in 2015. A 2011 earthquake near Japan that triggered a tsunami left nearly 20,000 people dead
As the scale of the latest disaster became ever more apparent, the death toll looked likely to rise considerably. One UN official said thousands of children may have died.
Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, followed hours later by a second one almost as powerful, toppled thousands of buildings including hospitals, schools and residential blocks, injured tens of thousands, and left countless people homeless in Turkey and northern Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces as search-and-rescue teams from around the world descended on the region.
An earthquake rescue team dispatched by China’s government arrived in Turkey’s Adana Airport early on Wednesday, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
