Turkey and Syria Earthquake Response: Rescue Phase Coming to a Close, Urgency Shifts to Shelter, Food, and Psychosocial Care

Strategic Insights -

The rescue phase following the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria on February 6 is nearing its end, with the United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths announcing that the focus will shift to providing shelter, food, schooling, and psychosocial care. The combined death toll has surpassed 35,000, with 31,643 fatalities in Turkey and 3,581 in Syria. Humanitarian aid is being delivered through various border crossings, including the Bab al Hawa crossing, and Turkey is ready to open two new border crossings from Kilis province.

Key Takeaways:

  • The rescue phase following the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria is "coming to a close", with the United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths announcing a shift in focus to providing shelter, food, schooling, and psychosocial care.
  • The combined death toll has surpassed 35,000, with 31,643 fatalities in Turkey and 3,581 in Syria.
  • Turkey has announced it will not allow a new influx of Syrian refugees after the earthquake, citing that "claims that there is a new influx of refugees from Syria to Turkey (after the earthquake) are not true".
  • Humanitarian aid is being delivered through various border crossings, including the Bab al Hawa crossing, and Turkey is ready to open two new border crossings from Kilis province.
  • A six-year-old girl named Miray was rescued from the rubble of an apartment block in the southern Turkish city of Adiyaman on Monday, 178 hours after the earthquake struck.
  • A woman named Sibel Kaya, 40, was rescued alive from the rubble of a collapsed building in Turkey on Monday, a week after the earthquakes ravaged southern Turkey and northwest Syria.
  • US authorities have called on Syria and all parties to grant immediate access to humanitarian assistance to all those in need across the country.
  • Turkish authorities are targeting contractors allegedly linked with buildings that collapsed in last week's powerful earthquakes, with 131 people under investigation for their alleged responsibility in the construction of buildings that failed to withstand the quakes.

Statistics:

  • 35,224 confirmed dead in the Turkey and Syria earthquake, with 31,643 fatalities in Turkey and 3,581 in Syria.
  • 4,300 people were dead and 7,600 others were injured in northwest Syria as of February 12, according to the UN office for humanitarian affairs (OCHA).
  • 3,500 deaths so far reported in Syria, with the bulk occurring in the northwest, in territory largely held by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
  • 131 people under investigation for their alleged responsibility in the construction of buildings that failed to withstand the quakes.
  • 178 hours passed since the earthquake struck before a young girl named Miray was rescued from the rubble of an apartment block in the southern Turkish city of Adiyaman.

Sources:

  • FRANCE 24
  • United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths
  • Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag
  • UN office for humanitarian affairs (OCHA)
  • AFP
  • AP
  • Reuters