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Difficult conditions frustrate rescue efforts as
death toll reaches 5,000
Ruth
Michaelson and Deniz Barış Narlı in Ankara and Sam Jones recap the latest
update for the Guardian:
Dozens of powerful aftershocks continued to jolt
southern Turkey and northern Syria on Tuesday, a day after an earthquake struck
the region killing more than 5,000 people and destroying thousands of
buildings, as difficult conditions, freezing temperatures and damaged roads
hampered rescue efforts.
As the scale of the devastation from the 7.8 magnitude
tremor continued to unfold, the World Health Organization warned the number of
casualties could exceed 20,000.
On Tuesday morning, Turkey’s vice-president, Fuat Oktay,
said 3,419 people had been killed in the quake, with another 20,534 had been
injured. The number of confirmed deaths on the Syrian side of the border rose
to 1,602, bringing the death toll in both countries to 5,021. Turkey’s disaster
management agency said it had 11,342 reports of collapsed buildings, of which
5,775 had been confirmed.
People in remote towns in southern Turkey described
how relief efforts were stretched to breaking point, amid destruction over a
border region spanning almost 650 miles.
In rebel-held northern Syria, volunteer rescue workers
said they lacked some of the most basic fuel and other provisions required to
pull those still trapped under the rubble of their homes.
An unknown number of people remain trapped and efforts
to find survivors have been frustrated by frigid conditions. Poor internet
connections and damaged roads between some of the worst-hit cities in Turkey’s
south, home to millions of people, also hindered rescue teams.
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