Rescue workers pulled out three people from under the rubble, 11 days after a massive earthquake hit Turkey and Syria. Over 45,000 people have been killed in the magnitude 7.8 quake and over 40 aftershocks that flattened thousands of buildings, trapping an unknown number of people in freezing weather.
While many international rescue teams have left the vast quake zone, survivors were still emerging from under a multitude of flattened homes, defying all the odds.
The United Nations has appealed for more than $1 billion in funds for the Turkish relief operation, and has launched a $400 million appeal for Syrians.
Meanwhile, outrage is growing over what Turks see as corrupt building practices and deeply flawed urban developments as many “earthquake-proof” buildings collapsed like a domino in last week’s massive quake.
Here are latest developments in five points.
Hakan Yasinoglu (40) was among the three rescued in Turkey, 278 hours after the quake. Earlier, Osman Halebiye (14) and Mustafa Avci (34) were saved in Turkey’s historic city of Antakya.
Rescue workers have been finding survivors all week despite them being stuck for so long under the rubble in freezing weather, without food and water, although their numbers have dropped to just a handful in the past few days.
The quake has killed more than 45,000 people in Turkey and Syria, injured tens of thousands of others and left millions without shelter in freezing temperatures. But the toll is expected to shoot up given some 2,64,000 apartments were lost in the quake and many people are still unaccounted for.
In neighbouring Syria, already shattered by more than a decade of civil war, authorities have reported more than 5,800 deaths. The toll has not changed for days.
The Turkish government has ordered the detention of more than 100 suspects, including building developers, as outrage over sub-standard building construction is growing. Many believe the sub-standard buildings made the quake even more devastating.
