Earthquake death toll in Turkey, Syria passes 25,000

KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey – Even after the wounded are treated and the trapped are freed from the rubble, the disaster of the earthquakes in Turkey may continue due to less immediate dangers.

The aftershocks of the earthquake could also manifest in a lack of water and sanitation, as well as frigid temperatures.

IsraAID’s initial exploratory team assessed that clean water would be one of the major problems for area residents following the tremors. “There will be a massive need for clean water,” said IsraAID press officer Shachar May.

Israel will deliver blankets, tents, and medicine to Syria, Israel's KAN news reported on Monday afternoon, according to a discussion that took place earlier among the political echelon.

This news follows a deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria overnight in which at least 300 people were killed and 2,000 were injured.

Syria's request was relayed via Russia to Israel's National Security Council. According to an Israeli senior official, if a request is made of Israel to receive Syrian wounded and provide medical care, it will be approved.

Israel will deliver blankets, tents, and medicine to Syria, Israel's KAN news reported on Monday afternoon, according to a discussion that took place earlier among the political echelon.

Syria's request was relayed via Russia to Israel's National Security Council. According to an Israeli senior official, if a request is made by Israel to receive Syrian wounded and provide medical care, it will be approved.

Britain said on Monday it would send search and rescue specialists and an emergency medical team to Turkey after a powerful earthquake there which has killed more than 1,400 people.

Britain will send 76 search & rescue specialists, four search dogs and rescue equipment that will arrive in Turkey this evening, the British foreign ministry said.

“We stand ready to provide further support as needed,” foreign minister James Cleverly said in a statement.

Iraq's Kurdish region temporarily halted on the flow of its oil through the Turkish port of Ceyhan port after a major earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, the region's ministry of natural resources said on Monday.

Oil exports will resume after careful "inspection of the pipelines is finalized," a statement from the ministry said.

The airport in the southern Turkish province of Adana was closed for flights until further notice following major earthquakes in the area on Monday, the private Demiroren news agency said.

No further details were immediately available.

Israel is prepared to extend its aid to earthquake-struck Turkey to Syrian victims as well, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, in a rare overture to the enemy Arab state.

"I ordered to send, at the request of the Turkish government, rescue teams and medical aid," Netanyahu said at a ceremony in a hospital near Tel Aviv. "Since a request was also received to do this for many victims of the earthquake in Syria, I instructed to do this as well," he said.

DIYARBAKIR/ANKARA, Turkey, Feb 6 (Reuters) - A major earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck central Turkey and northwest Syria on Monday, killing more than 900 people and injuring more than 5,300 as buildings collapsed across the region, triggering searches for survivors in the rubble.

The quake, which hit in the early darkness of a winter morning, was also felt in Cyprus and Lebanon.

In Syria, already devastated by more than 11 years of civil war, a government health official said more than 320 people had been killed and some 1,000 injured, most in the provinces of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia, where numerous buildings tumbled down.

A health official in Syria's hard-hit Aleppo province told Reuters some residents were still under the rubble and wounded people were flocking to hospitals in waves.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday it was concerned about areas in Turkey from which there had been no news following a deadly earthquake overnight.

"National authorities will be focussing on search and rescue at the moment," a WHO spokesperson told Reuters in a statement. "Then we will expect an increased need for trauma care to treat the injured and to support the entire health system in affected areas."

The massive earthquake that struck Turkey early Monday morning has also caused a massive loss of life across the border in Syria, according to initial reports from people on the ground and aid organizations.

Hospitals at the border area are reportedly overwhelmed and the fact the area is divided between different armed groups and between areas under Turkish control and Syrian regime control - meaning that getting aid to areas in Idlib, Afrin, Aleppo and the border area of Hatay and Kilis, where refugees and IDPs live, will be difficult.  

The entire area affected by the earthquake is a center for refugees and displaced Syrians who were already suffering after a decade of war in Syria. One of the key routes for Syrians receiving aid during the conflict was the road through the border town of Kilis. Now it appears that this region is the most affected by the earthquake, from Gaziantep down to Kilis and to the west in Hatay province and Iskenderun.