A boy has been pulled from earthquake rubble in Türkiye after surviving for 260 hours.
Key points:
- The UN has appealed for more than $US1 billion in funds for the Turkish relief operation
- Two days ago it launched a $US400 million appeal for Syrians
- Anger continues to build among survivors over building standards
Rescue teams in Hatay, in the country’s south, worked through the night, holding lights and filming the rescue, and applauding as the 12-year-old was lifted to safety on a stretcher in the early hours of Friday morning.
The quake killed at least 36,187 people in southern Türkiye, while authorities in neighbouring Syria have reported 5,800 deaths — a figure that has changed little in days.
Two other people were reported to have been pulled alive from the rubble in Türkiye on Thursday, more than 10 days after a massive earthquake hit the region, but such rescues have become increasingly rare.
A 17-year-old girl was pulled from the ruins of a collapsed apartment block in the country’s south-eastern Kahramanmaras province, broadcaster TRT Haber reported, 248 hours after the magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck in the dead of night on February 6.
Footage showed her being carried away on a stretcher covered with a gold thermal blanket while an emergency worker held up an intravenous drip.
About 10 hours later, Neslihan Kilic was rescued.
“We had prepared her grave and we asked the rescue workers to stop digging as we feared they would damage the remaining corpses under the rubble. Moments later, her voice was heard from under the ruins of the building,” Ms Kilic’s brother-in-law told broadcaster CNN Turk.
Ms Kilic’s husband and two children are still missing.
UN launches appeal
International aid agencies are stepping up efforts to help the millions left homeless, many of whom are sleeping in tents, mosques, schools or in cars.
The United Nations on Thursday appealed for more than $US1 billion in funds for the Turkish relief operation, just two days after launching a $US400 million appeal for Syrians.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in his first televised comments since the quake hit, said the response to the disaster required more resources than the government had available.
Neither Türkiye nor Syria have said how many people are still missing.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, who visited Türkiye last week, said people had “experienced unspeakable heartache”.
“We must stand with them in their darkest hour and ensure they receive the support they need,” he said.
650 believed dead in one building
For families still waiting to retrieve lost relatives, there is growing anger over what they see as corrupt building practices and deeply flawed urban development that resulted in thousands of homes and businesses disintegrating.
“I have two children. No others. They are both under this rubble,” Sevil Karaabdlolu said as excavators tore down what remained of a high-end block of flats in the southern Turkish city of Antakya, where her two daughters had lived.
About 650 people are believed to have died when the Renaissance Residence building collapsed.
“We rented this place as an elite place, a safe place. How do I know that the contractor built it this way?” she said.
“Everyone is looking to make a profit.”
Some 200 kilometres away, around 100 people gathered at a small cemetery in the town of Pazarcik, to bury a family of four — Ismail and Selin Yavuzatmaca and their two young daughters — who all died in the Renaissance building.
Türkiye has promised to investigate anyone suspected of responsibility for the collapse of buildings and has ordered the detention of more than 100 suspects, including developers.
ABC/wires