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.

An earthquake of magnitude 4.0 was felt in Israel late on Tuesday night, according to Israeli media.

Sickness or the death of those we love has a knack for putting things in perspective.

In the immediate aftermath there are pledges to appreciate the moment; to not get bogged down by the little stuff; to identify and place emphasis on what is important, while de-emphasizing that which is not; to work less and spend more time with loved ones.

Time, however, has a power of its own, and often these pledges are forgotten and old habits have taken up anew as the days, weeks and years pass. Sometimes it takes a short time to return to old ways, sometimes the rejigging of priorities triggered by a personal tragedy takes longer to fade. But the old ways generally do seep back in.

The same can be said of how we deal with natural disasters.

One was flooded by a torrent of emotions while watching the heart-breaking images that emerged from the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes Monday in southern Turkey and northern Syria. Compassion. Sympathy. Horror at the seeming randomness of it all. Gratitude that it was not us. Concern that the same thing could happen under our feet, and fear that if it ever did we are woefully unprepared to deal with it.

There was also the recognition of the puniness and helplessness of man in the face of the overwhelming power of nature, and a sense of shared humanity.

The IDF announced late Tuesday night that on Wednesday it will be sending 230 medical professionals to Turkey to establish a field hospital.

The new delegation will complement the 150-soldier delegation sent late Monday night-early Tuesday morning to assist with search and rescue efforts.

The new medical delegation will be led by IDF Col. Elad Edri and will include a mix of doctors, nurses and paramedics, including some from the Health Ministry.

A statement indicated that all members of the delegation would receive the appropriate vaccinations for avoiding transmitting diseases globally.

A fire that broke out at Turkey's southern Iskenderun Port as a result of massive earthquakes that hit the region has been extinguished, Turkey's defense ministry said on Tuesday.

The fire was extinguished with the help of the military's helicopters and planes, it said.

Hundreds of shipping containers were ablaze at the Iskenderun Port earlier on Tuesday, sending thick black smoke into the sky and shutting down operations, forcing freight liners to divert vessels to other ports.

Rescue teams and survivors peered through the twisted remains of an Iskenderun hospital on Tuesday, searching for signs of life a day after a major earthquake struck Turkey and neighboring Syria.

There was little amongst the debris to suggest the building was a busy medical facility less than two days before.

One of the hospital's surviving physicians, who identified himself only as Dr. Deveci, said he found the scene at his workplace hard to witness.

"I'm devastated. I see bodies inside, everywhere. Although I'm used to seeing bodies because of my expertise, it's very difficult for me," he said.

Two earthquakes cause severe destruction

Much of Iskenderun, a port city located in Turkey's southern Hatay province, lay in ruins after the magnitude 7.8 quake hit just after 4 a.m. on Monday. More than 1,200 buildings were destroyed in Hatay alone.

An aerial view shows collapsed and damaged buildings after an earthquake in Hatay, Turkey February 7, 2023. (credit: UMIT BEKTAS/REUTERS)

"A doctor said there are about 15 people here, including the patients," taxi driver Kerim Sahin said as he looked for a colleague in one part of the hospital.

"At the moment, they're all trapped inside. Nobody can go near the building, only one cabinet is supporting the third floor."

Sahin said the scale of the damage meant further rescue efforts were reliant on excavation equipment arriving from nearby cities.

The death toll in Turkey had risen to 3,549 people, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday as he declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces. In Syria, the toll stood at just over 1,700, with tens of thousands injured or left homeless in several Turkish and Syrian cities.

Turkish authorities say more than 12,000 search and rescue personnel are working in the affected areas, plus another 9,000 troops.

It’s not often that an Israeli flag is seen flying next to an Iranian flag, but as United Hatzalah of Israel’s earthquake relief team landed in Turkey on Tuesday evening, this rare event occurred, displaying how the global community had come together.

The aircraft was organized by the emergency service with El Al subsidiary Sun D’or in coordination with the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Israeli embassy in Turkey, and consequently proudly displayed Israeli flags on the cockpit window.

United Hatzalah’s plane, carrying 25 emergency response personnel and 10 tons of medical and humanitarian aid, taxied into a slot at Gaziantep airport. 

The parking spot placed the Israeli plane right next to an Iranian military plane, likely also on a mission related to the earthquake. As the Israeli plane sported flags, an Iranian flag was painted on the other craft’s empennage.

Countries put aside differences to help Turkey

On the right side of United Hatzalah’s plane, separated by one private aircraft, was a Qatari airforce McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. While Qatar’s relationship isn’t as antagonistic to Israel as Iran, it also has had an incredibly strained diplomatic history with the Jewish State.

An Iranian military plane sits on the tarmac in Turkey next to an Israeli aid plane. (credit: MICHAEL STARR)

A United Hatzalah team member said that it wasn’t uncommon in such missions that people that might otherwise be enemies would both work on the same field to the same objective — saving lives.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call to offer condolences and support after the deadly earthquake, Egypt's presidency said in a statement on Tuesday.

Egypt and Turkey have warmed ties recently after years of tensions as diplomatic relations have been strained since Sisi, then Egypt's army chief, led the 2013 ousting of Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, who was strongly supported by Erdogan.

A day after a devastating earthquake tore through Turkey and northern Syria, rescue workers were still thin on the ground in Antakya, forcing residents to pick through rubble sometimes without even basic tools in a desperate hunt for survivors.

Desperate and cold from the snow lying thick on the ground, relatives of earthquake victims in the Turkish city of Malatya expressed their frustration on Tuesday at what they said was the lack of help as they searched for missing loved ones.

Trying to find family, friends and neighbors, dead or alive, people in the southern Turkish city are asking each other for helmets, hammers, iron rods and strong rope to lift debris as they wait for more help to arrive.

While countries have scrambled to answer Turkey's call to send rescue teams to the afflicted areas, an array of problems from freezing wintry conditions, destroyed roads and a scarcity of trucks and heavy machinery have hampered relief efforts.

The lack of help has already prompted scuffles between residents and rescue workers in Antakya, with people pleading with rescuers to save their loved ones. In the city's Kavasli neighborhood, one woman, aged 54 and named Gulumser, was pulled alive from an 8-story building 32 hours after the quake.

A rescue team works on a collapsed building, following an earthquake in Antakya, Turkey February 6, 2023. (credit: UMIT BEKTAS/REUTERS)

Another woman then shouted at the rescue workers: "My father was just behind that room she was in. Please save him." The rescue workers explained they could not reach the room from the front and needed an excavator to remove the wall first.

Elsewhere, drone footage above the city showed a lone man on top of a collapsed building, hammering at debris while others stood around him.

"I see people here complain about the scarcity of rescue efforts, but maybe it is because there are 10 cities affected by the quake and many, many rescue teams are needed," a rescue worker from Istanbul, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

"But we are doing our best, trying to save people."

Turkish authorities say some 13.5 million people have been affected in an area spanning roughly 450 km (280 miles) from Adana in the west to Diyarbakir in the east, and 300 km from Malatya in the north to Hatay in the south.

Turkey declares a state of emergency

Turkey has declared a state of emergency and is using the airport in Adana as a logistics base. The airport became so congested that for example a team from Taiwan's fire service, consisting of 40 people and three search and rescue dogs, was stranded in Istanbul for hours on Tuesday waiting to take off.

Erdogan said the three-month state of emergency was to cover Turkey's 10 southern provinces and called it a disaster zone in a move meant to bolster rescue efforts.

He said 70 countries had offered help in search and rescue operations and that Turkey planned to open up hotels in the tourism hub of Antalya to temporarily house people.

Turkey's disaster and emergency authority has erected tents in Malatya to shelter those who have lost their homes.