ShareKAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey: Turkish rescuers on Thursday pulled a 17-year-girl from the rubble of last week's devastating earthquake, as hopes fade of finding more survivors. Aleyna Olmez was rescued 248 hours after the 7.8-magnitude quake flattened entire cities, killing nearly 40,000 people across southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria.
"She looked to be in good health. She opened and closed her eyes," coal miner Ali Akdogan, who took part in the rescue effort, told AFP in Kahramanmaras, a city near the quake's epicenter. "We have been working here in this building for a week now... We came here with the hope of hearing sounds," he said. "We are happy whenever we find a living thing - even a cat."
The girl's uncle tearfully hugged the rescuers one by one, saying: "We will never forget you." But after the rescue, Turkish soldiers told the media and locals to leave the scene because teams were starting to pull corpses out of the rubble. Officials and medics said 36,187 people had died in Turkey and 3,688 in Syria from the Feb 6 earthquake and aftershocks, bringing the official confirmed total to 39,875. Turkey has suspended rescue operation in some regions. The government in war-torn Syria has done the same in areas under its control.
Turkish police also detained a man trying to steal a baby from a hospital in southern Turkey, state media reported. A man walked into a hospital pretending to be a police chief in the Samandag district of the quake-affected province of Hatay, the Anadolu state news agency said Wednesday. The hospital staff realized his police ID card was fake and called the real police, it added.
When officers detained the man, they found fake police and military ID cards, gold and money in Turkish lira, dollars and euros worth around $6,500, Anadolu said. The agency did not provide information about the baby. Some parents in the region have expressed alarm to AFP over rumored child kidnappings. Turkish Family Minister Derya Yanik on Monday said at least 1,362 children had been separated from their families by the quake.
Meanwhile, the United Nations launched an appeal for $1 billion Thursday to help the victims. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that the funds would provide humanitarian relief for three months to 5.2 million people. The money would "allow aid organizations to rapidly scale up vital support," including in the areas of food security, protection, education, water and shelter, he added. "The needs are enormous, people are suffering and there's no time to lose," Guterres implored. "I urge the international community to step up and fully fund this critical effort in response to one of the biggest natural disasters of our times."
More than 9 million people in Turkey have been directly impacted by the disaster, according to Ankara. Turkey's people have experienced "unspeakable heartache," the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said in a separate statement announcing the flash appeal. "We must stand with them in their darkest hour and ensure they receive the support they need," added Griffiths, who heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
OCHA said in its statement that hundreds of thousands of people, including small children and elderly people, are without access to shelter, food, water, heaters and medical care in freezing temperatures. It added that some 47,000 buildings have been destroyed or damaged across Turkey, with thousands of people having sought refuge in temporary shelters.
The UN is delivering hot meals, food, tents, warm winter clothing, blankets, mattresses, kitchen sets and medical supplies to affected areas, OCHA said. On Tuesday, the UN launched a $397 million appeal to help quake victims in Syria. The United Nations earlier provided $50 million to relief efforts through its central emergency response fund. - AFP
