Death toll rises as rescue efforts ongoing for 12 days

KAHRAMANMARAŞ

At least 38,044 people lost their lives after the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes rattled the country’s south on Feb. 6, Türkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) has announced.

The two earthquakes of magnitudes 7.7 centered in the Pazarcık district and 7.6 centered in the Elbistan district struck Kahramanmaraş in Türkiye’s south, with 4,734 aftershocks recorded so far.

Apart from the death toll, AFAD also reported that more than 81,000 people were injured following the tremors felt in 11 southern provinces.

Nearly 20 million people have been affected by the earthquakes.

A total of 29,160 search and rescue personnel from government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and international search and rescue teams have been deployed to the region.

The total number of personnel on site is 264,389.

After the deadly quakes, 626 out of 1,464 unaccompanied children were reunited with their families.

Some 759 of them continue to receive treatment in hospitals.

Nearly 80 children were settled in the facilities affiliated with the Family and Social Services Ministry, while the identities of 1,197 children were determined.

After Elazığ, the eastern province of Sivas’s Gürün district has been included in the quake zones.

Meanwhile, search and rescue efforts are ongoing to save more lives under the rubble on the 12th day following the deadly quakes.

Rescue teams working in the wreckage of a private hospital in the Antakya district of Hatay found two people alive.

After intensive work, 26-year-old Mehmet Ali Şakiroğlu and 34-year-old Mustafa Avcı were reached.

Şakiroğlu and Avcı were rescued from the rubble 261 hours after the first quake.

Search and rescue teams working in the wreckage of another building in the same district reached a 14-year-old child after nearly 11 days following the quake.

Osman Halebiye, who was learned to be a foreign national, was rescued from the rubble at the 206th hour of the quake with the feverish works of the teams.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca visited Osman at the hospital, where he was being treated.

“Fourteen-year-old Osman is back among us at the 260th hour as a result of intensive efforts. Currently, his first medical intervention is being performed at Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Hospital. I stand by our child on behalf of all of us,” Koca said in a social media post.

Neslihan Kılınç, 29, was rescued alive from the rubble of an apartment building in Kahramanmaraş 258 hours after the quake.

A day before the rescue of the young woman, her family said, “We did not get any results until the end of the 10th day. There is no glimmer of hope.”

The family was overjoyed with the rescue of Neslihan.