People still being rescued as death toll rises

KAHRAMANMARAŞ

At least 31,643 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.

Apart from the estimated death toll, AFAD also reported that at least 80,278 others were injured following the tremors felt in 10 southern provinces.

While a week has passed since the earthquakes hit the 10 southern provinces, both search and rescue work and aid efforts for survivors are ongoing in the earthquake-hit areas.

Vice President Fuat Oktay stated that a total of 233,000 people, about 35,000 of them from search and rescue teams, are on duty in the quake zone.

More than 12,000 heavy construction equipment are actively used, as 24 ships and 112 helicopters support the efforts in the 10 earthquake-affected provinces, Oktay noted.

The number of earthquake victims settled in dormitories across the country reached 1.2 million, Oktay noted, adding that about 400,000 citizens from the disaster area have been transported to other provinces.

He also stated that 76 of the 574 unaccompanied infants and children who were pulled out of the rubble after the earthquakes were handed over to their families.

Some 118 children were settled in childcare institutions affiliated with the Family and Social Services Ministry, he said.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ announced that all cases except those related to the earthquake crimes will be postponed for two months in the quake-hit provinces.

Woman rescued after 175 hours

Meanwhile, search and rescue efforts continue to save more quake victims from the rubble on the eighth day.

In Hatay, where the most severe destruction of the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes occurred, Naide Umay was pulled out alive from the rubble at the 175th hour of the earthquake.

Umar, who was pulled out of the wreckage, was taken to the hospital by ambulance by search and rescue teams.

A group of rescuers in Gaziantep managed to reach the ground floor of a collapsed five-story apartment building.

The team, racing against time, rescued Sibel Kaya from the wreckage after 170 hours.

Search and rescue teams within the body of Manisa Municipality Fire Brigade started a study for a victim who was determined to be alive during the scanning works with a heat meter device.

Following intensive efforts, 60-year-old Erengül Önder was pulled out from the debris at the 166th hour.

As another team of rescuers heard a sound from a wreck during their sound control in Adıyaman, they intensified their efforts in the region.

The team created a life corridor under the rubble and rescued 44-year-old Naime Şakar 165 hours after the earthquake.

A young boy and a 62-year-old woman were the one of miracle rescues after nearly seven days trapped under the wreckage of collapsed buildings since Feb. 6’s devastating quakes.

The 7-year-old Mustafa was rescued in Hatay, while Nafize Yilmaz was pulled free in the Nurdağı district of Hatay. Both had been trapped for 163 hours before their rescue on Feb. 12.