The aftershocks, freezing temperatures, damaged roads and the lack of an effective plan to deal with the emergency resulted in a humanitarian response triggered by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that killed at least 8,000 people (confirmed victims) and killed at least 8,000 people in southern Turkey and northern Syria on Monday. hinders the crisis and relief efforts. left 380,000 more homeless in Turkey alone. We keep digging, we keep searching for trapped children, women and men. There are huge collapsed buildings where no one has dug. “The area affected by the earthquake is huge. I’ve never seen anything like it before,” said Johannes Gust of the German civil protection.
Turkey-Syria earthquake: delays in relief efforts
While the extent of the damage caused by the first earthquake and the second aftershock with a magnitude of 7.7 became clear, Turkish authorities declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces and the World Health Organization warned that the number of victims could exceed 20,000. Mahmut Nebi Uygül, 15, who was under the rubble for 35 hours in Adıyaman, was rescued after the earthquake. Anadolu Agency announced that the boy was transferred to the hospital where his older brother, who had survived, was also staying. In these dramatic hours, similar stories give hope to the families of the missing.
People are dying under the rubble, but aid has yet to arrive in many areas. According to Vice President Fuat Oktay, 3,471 buildings were destroyed, but this is a conservative estimate. Because many are still waiting. Citizens are angry. They ask for help and shovel, pick and dig with their bare hands. They don’t see bulldozers and mechanics coming. Gaziantep still seems like a city cut off from the rest of the world, with many small towns even more so because not only airports but also roads have been destroyed. Most of what’s left of the free press in Turkey wonders where the proceeds from the earthquake tax levied after the great earthquake of 1999 went. The controversy is growing, not because of the extent of the damage and the lack of a remedy. critical voices, and not only to the devastating shock, but also to the unpreparedness, the lack of temporary measures, the absence of a real contingency plan. The Turkish government has mobilized more than 10,000 people for relief efforts, but poor roads, difficult coordination of relief efforts, and a lack of proper transportation hamper operations.
4 people were arrested due to their social media posts complaining about the delay in the rescue efforts. This was announced by the Turkish police themselves, who said they had arrested four people for “provocative posts aimed at creating fear and panic”.
The aid situation in northern Syria, where international aid is expected, is even more disastrous. When they arrive, it will be too late for the thousands of civilians under the rubble. The situation in this battered corner of the Middle East is, if possible, much more dramatic than in Turkey. Aleppo was severely damaged. Here, the regime forces sent their help, which was completely inadequate. Creating a humanitarian corridor for international aid has never been easy, and it is even easier in Idlib, which is considered a stronghold of extremist Islamist groups. Syrian troops haven’t entered in years: large areas of the region were then a kind of Turkish protectorate, but Turkey is determined to bring aid to their ruined city first. The Assad regime claims sovereignty over all territories, and also reiterated yesterday that only Damascus will manage the distribution of international aid, even in areas where it has virtually no jurisdiction. And he refused offers of help from Israel. The regime does not openly say that this region has been out of control for twelve years and has been self-governing. There is a UN-guaranteed agreement so that some non-governmental organizations can bring food and medicine. Vitali, today more than yesterday.
Calls by various organizations to suspend sanctions against Syria have not been heeded for the time being, so that aid can be delivered by land and by air as soon as possible. Even before the earthquake hit hard, 4.1 million people, mostly women and children, were in need of humanitarian assistance in northern Syria.
The US team, which will provide assistance to Turkey after the earthquake, is expected to arrive in Adana around this time. Foreman Stephen Allen told reporters today. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Disaster Assistance Rescue Team (USAID) consists of two search and rescue teams in Los Angeles and Fairfax. Allen said the focus right now is “saving lives.” He stressed that the US teams will affect the “recovery of lives”. Currently, there is no other search and rescue team in Adana. Each of the rescue teams will have about 80 people, rescue dogs, as well as special tools and equipment. Special equipment includes hydraulic concrete saws, torches, drills and advanced medical capabilities, Allen said. “US military assets are being used to bring teams to Turkey,” he said. Dog teams will be particularly helpful because dogs will help find survivors rather than people who blindly dig up rubble.
There are currently about 20 international rescue teams on the ground, of about 2000 people.
How long can you survive under the debris?
The United Nations usually decides to suspend search and rescue efforts for five to seven days after a disaster if no one is found alive for a day or two. How long can you survive under the rubble after a devastating earthquake like February 6? Assuming a person has not suffered a head injury or other injury and has enough air and range of motion to breathe, how long can they last? It all depends on food and water. How long a person can survive on water alone depends on several factors such as one’s own metabolism, the amount of extra fat they store in their body, and temperature. Over time, a person’s organs begin to shut down one by one until the body can no longer function properly, but a healthy person can live up to eight weeks without eating.
On the other hand, it is much more difficult to survive without water. A healthy person can go without water for three to five days, although some survive for up to ten days. Without water, a person cannot digest or absorb food. During the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake, a man survived under the rubble for 14 days by splitting a jug of water he found under the rubble. The previous record for surviving under debris was 14 days, set by a man trapped in the ruins of a hotel after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit the Philippines in 1990. In 2011, a Japanese teenager and her eighty-year-old grandmother were found alive after being trapped in their home, which was razed to the ground after the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Fukushima, for nine days. A woman was removed from the rubble of a factory in Bangladesh in May 2013, 17 days later.
Much depends on the temperature of the area where they are trapped and their level of fitness, which determines how much fluid a person loses through sweat. Earthquakes aside, what happened in Seoul’s Seocho-gu district in South Korea in 1995 has given new hope for survivors should similar searches occur. After digging for more than two weeks in the wreckage of the destroyed Sampoong store, a 19-year-old woman who was stranded facedown under concrete slabs and crumbling rocks for 16 days was found alive and delirious. She survived. The news swept the world, baffling doctors and partially changing beliefs about how long research should take after disasters. The young woman had not drank any water, even though it was raining heavily and her tiny area was extremely humid. Maybe that’s what saved him. The young shoemaker was pulled from the rubble after 10 days in the basement, under the rubble. He survived by drinking rainwater and eating cardboard boxes.
Rescuers often say there is little chance of finding survivors after the first 48 hours, and hopes are dwindling after a week. At the time of writing this article, more than 48 hours have passed since the first earthquake, but not since the second earthquake, which was always devastating and caused more collapses. According to statistics, the vast majority of relief efforts occur within the first 24 hours after a disaster. But they are still digging in Turkey and will continue to dig for days.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization from Geneva, said: “This is a race against time. With every minute, every hour that passes, the chance of finding survivors decreases.”
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
