Although there is dwindling hope of finding survivors, Turkish rescuers rescued a 17-year-old girl from the rubble of a building that collapsed in last week’s devastating earthquake on Thursday.
Aleyna Olmez was rescued 11 days after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that destroyed entire cities and left nearly 40,000 dead in southeast Turkey and Syria.
“He looked fine. He opened and closed his eyes”Ali Akdogan, a miner who participated in relief efforts in Kahramanmaras, a city near the epicenter of the earthquake, told AFP.
“We have been working here, in this building, for a week now (…) We came hoping to hear something,” he said.
“We are happy when we find something alive, even if it’s a cat,” he added.
The girl’s uncle, crying, embraced all the rescuers one by one saying: “We will never forget them.”
But after the rescue, the Turkish military urged the media and locals to leave the scene, while rescue teams started clearing the bodies from the rubble.
According to the latest reports from the authorities and doctors, at least 36,187 people died in Turkey and 3,688 in Syria as a result of the February 6 earthquake and its aftershocks; bringing the total confirmed balance to 39,875 dead.
Turkey has suspended relief efforts in some regions. The government of Syria, a country at war, has taken the same measure in the areas under its control.
A 55-year-old man from Ankara was instead arrested in the Turkish province of Hatay (south) while trying to steal a newborn baby from a hospital, taking advantage of the chaos generated by the earthquake, reported the official Anadolu press. agency.
The man introduced himself as a former police officer at the establishment, located in the town of Samandag, and claimed a child, stating his name, according to Anadolu.
He was arrested and handcuffed and was in possession of several false identification documents.
The UN is an urgent request
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres asked the international community on Thursday finance an urgent humanitarian fund of 1,000 million dollars to help Turkey after the earthquake and criticized the fact that problems are addressed when it is too late.
The urgent fund seeks to assist 5.2 million people over the next three months by enabling various organizations on the ground to step up Turkish government-led work on food, protection, education, water and shelter, a statement said. .
In the daily press conference of the United Nations, spokesman Stéphane Dujarric explained that the initiative is focused on Turkey after consulting with its government, and justified it by explaining that the neighboring country hit by the earthquake, Syria, already has a “established” humanitarian community.
Only this year, the aid plan for Syria, which has been at war for years, requires $4.8 billion from member statesthe largest humanitarian request of the international organization, he specified.
The spokesman, facing criticism for the slow pace of aid, admitted that the UN humanitarian system is “pushed to its limits” and criticized that many of the problems it alleviates “could be solved in advance”, but are being left aside until the emergency arrives “at the door of the UN” and “much more money is needed”.
Sources: AFP and EFE
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.