Editor’s note: Graphic content. The next article incorporates photos of civilian casualties and injured children.
Search and rescue team are seen as they afford to rescue 36-year-old Murat Babaoglan from under rubble 88 hours after 7.7 and seven.6 magnitude earthquakes hit multiple provinces of Turkiye including Osmaniye on February 09, 2023.
Ahmet Izgi | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Fears of a “secondary disaster” were momentarily eclipsed Friday by a flurry of dramatic rescues that saw survivors pulled from the rubble 4 days after earthquakes devastated Turkey and Syria, killing greater than 23,300 people.
Emergency services, volunteers and families have toiled despite diminishing hope for those still trapped in subzero temperatures. Streets have grown heavy with bodies wrapped in blankets, while residents have huddled over fires because the destruction forced makeshift morgues for the dead and shelters for the living.
The federal government and aid groups have distributed tens of millions of hot meals, in addition to tents and blankets, but help was still struggling to succeed in many individuals in need — driving anger in southern Turkey and in northern Syria, where civil war has only compounded the difficulties.
But in Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter of Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, NBC News witnessed one among the numerous rescues that offered a glimmer of hope to the tens of millions affected.
Dozens of rescuers clambered around a 57-year old woman, who was still conscious when she was pulled from the wreckage of a constructing.
Wrapped in a gold-colored emergency blanket, she was rushed to the hospital.
It was Murat Kucuktecer, one among the numerous rescuers at the positioning, who had first heard the lady’s voice. She survived days under the rubble because she was trapped in an air pocket that was insulated, Kucuktacer told NBC News.
“She was inside a 20-inch space where there was enough air, that is how she survived,” he said. “It was a miracle, thank God.”
“That is the eighth person I’ve rescued alive. God willing, I still have hope,” he added, smiling, as he stood in front of craggy rubble and jagged wires rising from the bottom.
In Gaziantep, there have been tears of joy early Friday when 17-year-old Adnan Muhammed Korkut was pulled from the rubble fully conscious, after 94 hours trapped within the basement of an apartment constructing that had collapsed.
Unable to maneuver for 4 days and determined to not starve to death, the teenager survived by drinking his own urine, in line with news agencies.
Hulya Kabakulak is carried after being rescued after 90 hours, because the seek for survivors continues, within the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, February 9, 2023.
Umit Bektas | Reuters
Video showed that his mother, Buket Pakize, sobbed with joy, embraced and kissed him as he was carried out on a stretcher.
“My son doesn’t leave me alone for one hour. God blessed my son, who doesn’t leave me alone for one hour. May everyone else be blessed as well,” she said, as those round her responded hopefully, “Amen.”
Brimming with joy, one among the rescuers — a girl called Yasmen — embraced the teenager who seemed remarkably lucid after his ordeal.
“I actually have a son identical to you. I swear to you, I actually have not slept for 4 days,” she said, as she tenderly held Korkut’s face while he looked on with tears in his eyes. “I used to be attempting to get you out, I really like you very much.”
Despite the moments of joy on the bottom, the death toll continued to rise and the main focus was also turning to fears of a ‘secondary disaster’ for those still lacking warm shelter, food and water across the border region, which is home to greater than 13.5 million people.
The World Health Organization said that survivors desperately needed vital support providing basic necessities reminiscent of clean water and shelter in worsening weather conditions.
“We’re in real danger of seeing a secondary disaster which can cause harm to more people than the initial disaster, if we do not move with the identical intention and intensity as we’re doing on the search and rescue side,” said WHO incident manager for the earthquake, Rob Holden at a WHO news conference Wednesday.
A lady sits next to the body of her nephew in Kahramanmaras, on February 9, 2023, three days after a 7,8-magnitude earthquake struck southeast Turkey.
Ozan Kose | AFP | Getty Images
The necessity is very dire in rebel-held areas of northwest Syria, grappling with 12 years of civil war and now a border crossing made nearly inaccessible for international aid after the earthquake damaged roads.
The U.S is pushing for more protected passages for U.N. humanitarian supplies across the Turkish border into the region.
Photos taken Tuesday by Maxar Technologies, a U.S. defense contractor headquartered in Colorado, show the dimensions of infrastructure damage in places like Nurdagi, Turkey.
A bird’s-eye view before and after the temblors shows silos that burst open after the earthquake, blanketing the bottom with grain.
In a press release issued Friday, the United Nations World Food Programme said it had delivered urgently needed food assistance, primarily hot meals, food packages, and ready-to-eat food rations, to around 115,000 people in Syria and Turkey in the primary 4 days because the earthquakes struck the region.
“For the hundreds of individuals affected by the earthquakes, food is one among the highest needs without delay and our priority is to get it to the individuals who need it fast,” said WFP Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Corinne Fleischer.
