More people found alive in Turkey

But some rescue teams scale back operations as low temperatures reduce already slim chances of survival

More than 200 hours after the quake struck, teacher Emine Akgul was pulled from a building in Antakya by a mining search and rescue team on Tuesday, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported. 

An 18-year-old man was pulled from the rubble of a building in southern Turkey, the third rescue on Tuesday and some 198 hours after a devastating earthquake as aid workers shifted focus to those across Turkey and Syria left homeless in the bitter cold. Muhammed Cafer, could be seen moving his fingers as he was carried away, after surviving the huge Feb. 6 earthquake and major aftershock hours later. A little earlier, rescuers pulled two brothers alive from the ruins of an apartment block in Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province, who Anadolu news agency named as 17-year-old Muhammed Enes Yeninar and his brother, 21-year-old Baki Yeninar.

Rescuers again worked through the night to rescue people clinging to life. But some teams have started scaling back operations as low temperatures reduced the already slim chances of survival. Earlier on Tuesday, a boy and a man were saved in hard-hit Kahramanmaras, while rescuers were still trying to reach a grandmother, mother and daughter from one family. 

Mehmet Gurkan, of Turkish animal rights group HAYTAP, rescues a dog trapped for seven days in a house in Antakya Sunday. Pic/AP

Not enough tents have arrived for the homeless, forcing families to share the tents that are available, survivor Zehra Kurukafa said. “We sleep in the mud, all together with two, three, even four families,” Kurukafa said. In Aleppo, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Monday that rescue phase was “coming to a close”, with the focus turning to shelter, food and schooling. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to allow more U.N. aid to enter from Turkey, diplomats said on Monday.

Also Read: Teen rescued 182 hrs after quake

The death toll from powerful earthquakes that struck Turkey last week has risen to 31,974, the country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said on Tuesday. It said that nearly 1,95,962 victims have been evacuated from the quake zone in southern Turkey. The total death toll in Syria, has reached 5,714, including those who died in both the rebel enclave and government-held areas.

Parallel rescue bid targets pets

Six days after the earthquake that flattened parts of Turkey and Syria, two survivors emerged from the rubble. They were dogs, the focus of a parallel rescue effort underway. “One of the dogs clung to its owner’s corpse, and it was absolutely a miracle that it was rescued six days later,” said Csenay Tekinbas, a representative of the local HAYTAP animal welfare group. “I hope it holds on to life,” Tekinbas said of the dog that finally left its dead owner. “I hope we can give it a new life.” Already, field hospitals have been set up in four cities to care for rescued pets. Those hurrying to find and care for pets also struggle to give them proper care.

1,95,962
No of victims evacuated in Turkey

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