The United Nations expects the death toll to exceed 50,000 – DW – 02/13/2023

Rescuers in Turkey pulled more people from the rubble of Monday’s earthquake, but hopes are fading in Turkey and Syria that more survivors will be found.

UN Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said he expected the death toll to reach at least 50,000 after arriving in southern Turkey on Saturday to assess damage from the quake.

With at least 29,605 dead in Turkey, the disaster is already on the list of the 10 deadliest earthquakes on record. More than 3,500 people have been killed in Syria and the death toll has not been updated since Friday.

Between Monday and Saturday, the region experienced more than 2,000 aftershocks, according to Turkey’s Disaster Management Authority.

Hopes fade in Alexandretta

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Here are other updates from Sunday, February 12, in the aftermath of the deadly earthquakes:

Looting in Turkey sparks anger against immigrants

Residents of Turkish cities hit by Monday’s devastating earthquake continue to report incidents of looting, while rights activists warn that many individuals have been wrongfully attacked over allegations of looting.

Reuters news agency reported that business owners in central Antakya emptied their shops on Sunday.

Residents and aid workers warned of the deteriorating security situation. Some residents whose homes were destroyed said their valuables had been stolen.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a presidential decree extending the period of detention for thieves from one day in prison to four. He warned that violators will be dealt with firmly.

On Sunday, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozak announced the arrest of 57 people on charges of looting.

Many Turkish residents were quick to blame the immigrants, including Afghans and Syrians, for fueling xenophobia in a country of millions of foreign nationals.

Emma Sinclair Webb, who represents Human Rights Watch International in Turkey, retweeted a photo on Twitter showing alleged looters lined up and kneeling on the ground.

“Many shocking images circulated by the police and civilians beating and treating individuals who claimed to have looted the buildings after the earthquakes,” she said, stressing the authorities’ duty to prevent such incidents from occurring.

The Diyarbakir Bar Association also addressed the phenomenon on Twitter, saying it had reached “alarming proportions”. The group called for legal action against these “inhumane acts”.

The division between the government and the rebels has hampered the delivery of aid into Syria

The 12-year-old Syrian civil war has affected the delivery of aid to areas affected by the devastating earthquake.

An unnamed source told Reuters news agency on Sunday that the hardline Islamist group that runs rebel-held northwest Syria will not allow aid shipments from government-held parts of Syria.

“We will not allow the regime to exploit the situation to show that it is helping,” said the source from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which governs opposition-held areas in Idlib province.

Both the United Nations and the United States designate HTS as a terrorist group. Formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, the group served as a local branch of al-Qaeda.

Rebels in the northwest also turned back an aid convoy from the Kurdish-led northeastern region of Syria on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the United Nations is trying to open additional border crossings between Turkey and opposition-held Syria to facilitate aid access, as HTS maintains it will only receive aid from Turkey.

The Bab al-Hawa crossing is currently the only UN-recognised link between Turkey and opposition-held areas. The roads around the crossing were severely damaged by the earthquake.

Meanwhile, in government-held areas, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad thanked the United Arab Emirates for being one of the first countries to support Syria in the aftermath of the earthquake.

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Syria on Sunday after his country pledged about $13.6 million (12.7 million euros) to the country after the disaster. Then they announced an additional $50 million (46.7 million euros) in aid.

The United Nations admits the failure of aid in areas controlled by the Syrian opposition

Visiting the Turkish-Syrian border, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths said Syrians were left “in search of international help that has yet to arrive.”

He was referring specifically to areas in opposition-held northwest Syria.

“They feel right to be given up,” Griffiths wrote on Twitter, adding that he was focused on addressing this quickly.

“My duty and our obligation is to rectify this failure as quickly as possible. This is my focus now,” he added during the visit, as there is only one border crossing open for UN aid supplies.

On Friday, the head of the “White Helmets” emergency response group in Syria accused the United Nations of failing to deliver adequate humanitarian aid to opposition-held areas.

Turkey arrests building contractors after the earthquakes

Turkish officials ordered the detention of 113 suspects for their alleged involvement in the construction of some buildings that collapsed during the earthquakes.

Overnight, Vice President Fuat Oktay said that 131 suspects had been identified, and “orders were issued to detain 113 of them.”

DW’s Julia Han speaks live from Adana

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Environment Minister Murat Kurum said that at least 24,921 buildings across the region have collapsed or been severely damaged.

Building codes in Turkey comply with current standards for earthquake engineering but are not always enforced.

Turkish media reported that the authorities at Istanbul Airport detained, on Sunday, contractors responsible for destroying several buildings in Adiyaman. The two were reportedly on their way to Georgia.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said two more people were arrested in Gaziantep province on suspicion of cutting columns to make extra space in a collapsed building.

The arrests could help direct public anger toward builders and contractors, diverting attention from local and state officials who have authorized substandard construction.

The Greek Foreign Minister visits the earthquake-stricken area in Turkey

Greece’s foreign minister, Nikos Dendias, is visiting the quake-stricken areas neighboring Turkey to show support.

He was received at the airport by his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, before heading to Antakya, where Greek rescuers are assisting in search and rescue operations.

Despite its history of rivalry with Turkey, Greece was among the first European countries to send rescue workers and humanitarian aid just hours after the disaster.

The Greek government has sent 80 tons of medical and first aid kits.

According to the State Department, Dendias and Cavusoglu will discuss ways in which Greece can provide more assistance to Turkey.

German rescue worker warns of illness

A German expert and aid worker has warned that the risk of disease is increasing in earthquake-hit areas.

“In areas where people do not have access to clean drinking water, there is a risk of epidemics at some point,” said Thomas Gayner, an experienced earthquake doctor who is part of the rescue team from the German aid organization NAVIS.

He warned that bodies trapped under the rubble could contaminate the water supply. The lack of toilets was also a concern.

A Turkish rescuer, whose full name was not given, described the situation in Antakya as desperate.

“The bodies are lying on the roads, with only blankets,” she said.

People in the town were wearing masks to cover up the smell of death.

Turkey: Security concerns hamper earthquake relief efforts

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Germany offers fast-track visa option for Turkish earthquake victims

The German Foreign and Interior Ministries have announced plans to enable Turkish earthquake survivors who have relatives in Germany to stay with them temporarily.

The two ministries formed a working group to speed up paperwork and reduce the necessary bureaucracy.

“The aim is to make the visa process for these cases as unbureaucratic as possible,” said Foreign Minister Analina Berbock.

Home Secretary Nancy Visser said this would be done through regular visas, which would be issued quickly and remain valid for three months.

“We want to make it possible for Turkish or Syrian families in Germany to bring their relatives from the disaster area to join them without red tape,” Weser wrote on Twitter.

Germany is home to the largest Turkish community outside of Turkey.

“Totally unfair” accusing him of neglecting aid – EU envoy to Syria

The EU envoy to Syria has urged Damascus not to politicize humanitarian aid issues, rejecting accusations that the EU has failed to provide adequate assistance to the Syrians.

“It is totally unfair that we are being accused of not providing assistance, when in fact we have been doing exactly that for over a decade and we are doing a lot even during the earthquake crisis,” Dan Stoinescu told Reuters news agency.

He said the European Union had raised more than 50 million euros ($53 million) to provide assistance and support rescue and first aid missions in both government and opposition-held parts of Syria.

A shipment of 30 tons of humanitarian aid from the Italian government – including four ambulances and 13 pallets of medical equipment – landed in Beirut on Saturday en route to Damascus.

The first shipment of earthquake-related aid crossed from Turkey into the rebel-held enclave in Syria on Friday.

Humanitarian access to northern Syria has been complicated by the civil war, while sending money can be hampered or slowed by sanctions, though relief efforts are an exception.

lo / kb (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)

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