Turkiye-Syria earthquake: Clock is ticking against harsh weather conditions

Ilhami Akbulut, 51, is rescued from a damaged building as the search for survivors continues in Hatay, Turkey February 9, 2023. (Reuters)
Ilhami Akbulut, 51, is rescued from a damaged building as the search for survivors continues in Hatay, Turkey February 9, 2023. (Reuters)
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Updated 09 February 2023

Turkiye-Syria earthquake: Clock is ticking against harsh weather conditions

Ilhami Akbulut is rescued from a building as the search for survivors continues in Hatay, Turkey February 9, 2023. (Reuters)
  • The first UN aid convoy crossed the border from Turkiye into northwest Syria on Thursday
  • Rescue teams have urged local citizens who are anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones to remain quiet as they try to find signs of life under debris

ANKARA: Cansu Cilingir, a choir member and music teacher in the southern Turkish city of Hatay, was singing “Autumn Leaves” just two months ago. Originally an opera singer, Cilingir delivered a moving performance with her mellifluous voice, unaware that in just a short time, tragedy would bring an early end to her career.  

After three days buried under the rubble of Turkiye’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake as she and her neighbors waited for help from a single crane, Cilingir passed away on Wednesday around noon.

“We lost our...lovely friend Cansu. We will always remember her with her beautiful voice, sincerity and smile,” said Masis Aram Gozbek, conductor of the Magma Choir, with which Cilingir had long been a singer.

Over 14,014 people have been killed in Turkiye and 3,162 in neighboring Syria, according to the latest figures, which keep rising. More than 100,000 rescuers are currently working in 10 provinces of Turkiye following Monday’s twin earthquakes.

 

The first UN aid convoy crossed the border from Turkiye into northwest Syria on Thursday.

Given the geographical extent of the disaster, local citizens have been drawing attention to the urgent need for cranes, diggers and lift operators to remove the debris and hasten search and rescue efforts.

There have been reports from the region that disaster management agency AFAD’s teams could not operate in buildings where they were unable to hear voices.

Rescue teams have urged local citizens who are anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones to remain quiet as they try to find signs of life under debris.

The sister of Taha Duymaz, who made a name for himself with the food videos he shot in his low-income house in Hatay, garnering 1.2 million followers on Instagram, made rescue pleas for her brother and other relatives. She said rescue services had been halted as the teams could not hear victims’ voices from the wreckage.  

Duymaz had posted a video on TikTok just hours before the first quake. His sister believes he might have fainted, which would explain why he could not call for help from under the debris.

AFAD completed its rescue and search efforts in some cities, including Kilis and Sanliurfa.

There have been some miraculous rescues, with people being pulled from the rubble after four days. These, however, have tended to be young people, children and babies — and rarely adults — who have managed to remain safe in a small space under the rubble.

International support in the search and rescue efforts has been notable, with France and Spain having immediately worked to establish field hospitals in the region.

The Turkish government has set up tents and temporary accommodation facilities outside the quake zone, and sport centers, shelters and similar locations were allocated for those who wished to leave the disaster area.

Mobile kitchens and bakeries are also being established with governmental and civil society efforts. A sports center in Kahramanmaras was turned into a mortuary, but several survivors told Arab News that they are in urgent need of shrouds and vehicles to transfer corpses to the cemeteries as victims’ families have had to carry their dead loved ones using trolleys. Many people have said there is a strong smell of corpses in the streets.




A guard pulls a trolley bed with the body of a victim, as two people stand next to it, outside a hospital in Kirikhan, Turkey February 9, 2023. (Reuters)

Ayse Yildiz, a professional search and rescue worker who previously took part in the catastrophic 7.6-magnitude Marmara earthquake, was dispatched yesterday to the southeastern Malatya province to help with rescue efforts.

An academic by profession who works on international refugee law, she passed the night searching for survivors under a collapsed building and slept a short while on the floor as there was no tent large enough to accommodate all volunteers in the region.

But Yildiz, who after a sleepless night engaged again in an intense rescue operation, is also aware that the clock is ticking.

“We have only been removing dead bodies from under the debris. There is no one alive in these freezing temperatures. Hatay province was less cold than Malatya, but here, the rain and snow threaten the lives of those trapped under the rubble, who end up dying by hypothermia,” she told Arab News.

“We thank all the international rescue teams here who are showing great efforts in helping victims and survivors. I have seen Maltese and Italian teams so far,” Yildiz said.

In some parts of Malatya, aid workers have drawn attention to insufficient equipment and tents where rescue teams can have small breaks and sleep in shifts.

“We are only using human force. I descended into the debris, but I couldn’t remove any of it because it had disintegrated into pieces. I left my little one in Izmir, and I wanted so much to save the life of a child here. It seems impossible. There will be a serious problem with hygiene and disease here after a while,” Yildiz said. 

In the southeastern province of Adiyaman, another zone hard hit by the earthquake, some survivors died from internal bleeding after being rescued.

“My student Nazim Can Hartlap was rescued the first day from the wreckage of the hotel he was staying at, but we lost him afterward because he succumbed to internal injuries. When he came to Eskisehir Anadolu University, he had financial problems, but we found him a place to stay. He worked so hard to be an informed and educated guide,” Meral Unver told Arab News.

In the same collapsed hotel, rescuers also found the bodies of three school volleyball players from Northern Cyprus.

In March, a conference is expected to be hosted in Brussels by the EU to mobilize funds from the international community to support Turkish and Syrian earthquake victims.

In total, a record number of 1,485 rescuers and 100 search dogs were mobilized in Turkiye as part of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism operations, one of its largest search and rescue operations. Twenty-one 21 EU member states, together with Albania, Montenegro and Serbia, offered rescue and medical teams.

European Commissioner Janez Lenarcic, crisis coordinator of the EU’s response, arrived in Gaziantep on Thursday. The EU also sent temporary accommodation units, tents and beds to Turkiye.

In the meantime, as criticisms regarding the speed of rescue efforts have mounted, Twitter has been restricted in Turkiye on Wednesday and many users have reported requiring a connection via a virtual private network. Twitter was a powerful communication tool during the rescue efforts as many people under the debris communicated their locations to their families and the authorities by posting tweets.

Electricity has returned in the streets and avenues of the regions hit by the quake, but the underground main circuits are still being repaired.

“On the first day, bad weather conditions prevented us from…monitoring the region with drones and planes. Now, we are also supporting our rescue efforts with an aerial component,” Vice President Fuat Oktay said during a press conference on Wednesday.

Several celebrities, including well-known singer Tarkan and actor Kivanc Tatlitug, have donated large sums of money to humanitarian efforts.

The World Health Organization estimates that the final death toll may be over 20,000, making it the highest recorded by Turkiye since its 1999 earthquake.


34 migrants missing after 5th boat sinks in two days

34 migrants missing after 5th boat sinks  in two days
Updated 25 March 2023

34 migrants missing after 5th boat sinks in two days

34 migrants missing after 5th boat sinks  in two days
  • According to UN data, at least 12,000 migrants who have reached Italy this year set sail from Tunisia, compared with 1,300 in the same period of 2022

TUNIS: At least 34 African migrants were missing on Friday after their boat sank off Tunisia, the fifth shipwreck in two days, raising the total number of missing to 67 amid a sharp increase in boats heading toward Italy, Tunisian officials said.
The Italian coast guard said on Thursday it had rescued about 750 migrants in two separate operations off the southern Italian coastline, hours after at least five people died and 33 were missing in an attempted sea crossing from Tunisia.
Tunisian Judge Faouzi Masmoudi said that seven people had died in the boat capsizes off the coast of the city of Sfax, including babies and children.
Houssem Jebabli, an official at the National Guard, said the Coast Guard had stopped 56 boats heading for Italy in two days and detained more than 3,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan African countries.
According to UN data, at least 12,000 migrants who have reached Italy this year set sail from Tunisia, compared with 1,300 in the same period of 2022. Previously, Libya was the main launch pad for migrants from the region.
The coastline of Sfax has become a major departure point for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East for a shot at a better life in Europe.
Tunisia is struggling with its worst financial crisis due to stalled negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a loan amid fears of a default in debt repayment, raising concerns in Europe, especially in neighboring Italy.
Tunisia has been gripped by political upheavals since July 2021, when President Kais Saied seized most powers, shutting down parliament and moving to rule by decree.
Europe risks seeing a huge wave of migrants arriving on its shores from North Africa if financial stability in Tunisia is not safeguarded, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday. Meloni called on the IMF and some countries to help Tunisia quickly to avoid its collapse. “If we do not adequately address those problems we risk unleashing an unprecedented wave of migration,” he said.

 


Latakia governor praises UAE’s rescue efforts in Syria’s quake-hit areas

Latakia governor praises UAE’s rescue efforts in Syria’s quake-hit areas
Updated 24 March 2023

Latakia governor praises UAE’s rescue efforts in Syria’s quake-hit areas

Latakia governor praises UAE’s rescue efforts in Syria’s quake-hit areas
  • Amer Ismail Hilal: ‘The UAE has supported the Syrian people since the quake first struck the country’

LATAKIA, Syria: Latakia’s governor has lauded the UAE’s efforts to rescue those affected by the earthquake that hit several cities in Syria last month, the Emirates News Agency reported on Friday.
“The UAE has supported the Syrian people since the quake first struck the country,” Amer Ismail Hilal was quoted as saying. He added that the support included search and rescue teams, as well as humanitarian aid.
Hilal highlighted the deep-rooted relations between the two countries, underscored by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s visit to the UAE last Sunday.
On behalf of Latakia governorate, Hilal thanked the UAE’s government and people for the continuous efforts of the Emirates Red Crescent field teams.


African migrants stuck in Tunisia say racism persists after crackdown

African migrants stuck in Tunisia say racism persists after crackdown
Updated 24 March 2023

African migrants stuck in Tunisia say racism persists after crackdown

African migrants stuck in Tunisia say racism persists after crackdown
  • ‘We need evacuation, Tunisia is not safe, there’s no future here when you have this color, it is a crime to have this color’

BEIRUT: Weeks after a violent crackdown on migrants in Tunisia that triggered a perilous rush to leave by smuggler boats for Italy, many African nationals are still homeless and jobless and some say they still face racist attacks.

Outside the UN refugee agency in Tunis, dozens of African migrants stood protesting this week by the temporary camp where they have lived, including with children, since authorities urged landlords to force them from their homes.

“We need evacuation. Tunisia is not safe. No one has a future here when you have this color. It is a crime to have this color,” said Josephus Thomas, pointing to the skin on his forearm.

In announcing the crackdown on Feb. 21, President Kais Saied said illegal immigration was a criminal conspiracy to change Tunisia’s demography, language the African Union described as “racialized hate speech.”

US Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf said Saied’s comments had unleashed “attacks and a tidal wave of racist rhetoric,” with rights groups saying hundreds of migrants reported being attacked or insulted.

Saied and Tunisia’s foreign minister have rejected accusations that he or the government are racist and they announced steps to ease visa regulations for Africans and reminded police of anti-racism laws.

While the official crackdown appeared to end weeks ago, migrants say they still face abuse.

“People told me ‘since you are in our country after the president’s speech, don’t you have any dignity?’ I kept silent and they told me I am dirt,” said Awadhya Hasan Amine, a Sudanese refugee outside the UNHCR headquarters in Tunis.

Amine has lived in Tunis for five years after fleeing Sudan and then Libya with her husband. Now 30, she has been living on the street outside the UNHCR headquarters since local people pelted her house in the capital’s Rouad district with rocks.

“We want to live in a place of safety, stability and peace. We don’t want problems in Tunisia,” she said.

Although some West African countries evacuated hundreds of their citizens earlier this month, many remain stuck in Tunisia, unable to support themselves let alone afford passage home or pay smugglers hundreds of dollars to ferry them to Europe.

“Tunisia is an African country. Why do they do racist things to us?” said Moumin Sou, from Mali, who was sacked from his job working behind a bar after the president’s speech and was beaten up the next day by a man in the street who stole his money.

Sou wants to return home, he said, but many others are determined to travel on to Europe.

In the wake of the crackdown, in which police detained hundreds of undocumented migrants and authorities urged employers to lay them off and landlords to evict them, smuggler crossings to Italy have surged.

Tunisian National Guard official Houssem Jbeli said on Wednesday alone the coast guard had stopped 30 boats carrying more than 2,000 people. On the same day and the following day four boats sank, with five people drowned, authorities said.


540,000 children in Yemen ‘starving’: UNICEF

540,000 children in Yemen ‘starving’: UNICEF
Updated 24 March 2023

540,000 children in Yemen ‘starving’: UNICEF

540,000 children in Yemen ‘starving’: UNICEF
  • The agency pleads for more aid as a child dies every 10 minutes

JEDDAH: More than 540,000 children under the age of 5 in Yemen are suffering life-threatening severe acute malnutrition and a child dies every 10 minutes from preventable causes, the UN said on Friday.

The UN children’s agency UNICEF warned that it could be forced to slash support for children in Yemen without a funding boost.

A total of 11 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance, UNICEF says.
It said it required $484 million to continue assistance this year, but the UN raised only $1.2 billion for all its agencies in Yemen at a pledging conference in Switzerland last month, well short of the $4.3 billion target.
“The funding gap UNICEF continued to face through 2022 and since the beginning of 2023 is putting the required humanitarian response for children in Yemen at risk,” the organization said said.
“If funding is not received, UNICEF might be forced to scale down its vital assistance for vulnerable children.”

The conflict in Yemen began in 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized the capital, Sanaa, in a coup. An Arab coalition intervened the following year to support the legitimate government, and launched their first assaults against Houthi positions on March 26, 2015.
A truce expired last year, but fighting has remained largely on hold.
More than 11,000 children are known to have been killed or maimed since the conflict escalated in 2015.
Fighting in Yemen has triggered what the UN describes as one of the world's worst humanitarian tragedies. Itsays more than 21.7 million people, two-thirds of Yemen's population, will need humanitarian assistance this year.
 


Rare anti-Houthi protests in Yemen after activist’s death

Hundreds of angry demonstrators are seen carrying the body of Hamdi Abdul Razaq through the streets of Ibb province on March 23
Hundreds of angry demonstrators are seen carrying the body of Hamdi Abdul Razaq through the streets of Ibb province on March 23
Updated 24 March 2023

Rare anti-Houthi protests in Yemen after activist’s death

Hundreds of angry demonstrators are seen carrying the body of Hamdi Abdul Razaq through the streets of Ibb province on March 23

SANAA: Rare protests have erupted against Yemen’s Houthi rebels following the funeral of a popular critic found dead after he was detained by the group.
Videos posted on social media showed hundreds of angry demonstrators carrying the body of Hamdi Abdul Razaq through the streets of Ibb province on Thursday.
Eyewitnesses, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal, said the Thursday protests spanned several neighborhoods and protesters were heard chanting “No Houthis after today.”
Activists have accused the rebel authorities of abducting, torturing and killing Hamdi Abdul Razaq, who spoke out against the Houthi authorities in videos posted on Youtube. Followers knew him by his profile name, “Al-Mukohl.” He was reported dead by authorities late last week. His family have not commented on the incident.
In a series of videos, Abdul Razaq openly criticized Houthi rule, branding its administration as corrupt and repressive.
Houthi forces, who control Sanaa and most of northern Yemen, have cracked down on dissent in their territories. Some who oppose them have been charged for working with Saudi Arabia, which is part of the coalition battling the Houthis.
Yemen’s devastating conflict began in 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. The coalition intervened in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized government to power.
In a statement following Thursday’s protest, the Houthi authorities claimed Abdul Razaq had been detained for insulting another influential family in the area. On Sunday, he escaped through a bathroom window of the police station and was found in a half-constructed building later that day, it said.
In a statement Thursday, the head of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, Rashed Al-Alimi, offered his support to the protesters and said a monthly stipend would be given to Abdul Razaq’s family.
Mohammed Ali, a high-ranking Houthi official, later said on Twitter that a committee had been set up to further investigate the incident.
His death comes amid a string of similar reported incidents. Earlier this year, a fruit and vegetable vendor from northern Houthi-held territories was abducted and killed, whipping up widespread anger across the divided country.
On Tuesday four activists were handed prison terms, ranging from six months to three years, by a Houthi court for their criticism of the Iran-backed rebels on social media, a lawyer said.