Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: 13 days after rescuers continue to find people alive but the victims are already more than 45 thousand

Thirteen days after the earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria, the Turkish rescuers found three people alive in the rubble on Saturdayalthough one of them, a 12-year-old boy, died shortly after on his way to hospital.

It was a real miracle that they he survived for almost two weeks despite being trapped under rubble and in freezing weather. But the number of people saved alive has dwindled to a handful in recent days and hopes are starting to fade.

According to the latest budget, at least 44,330 people lost their lives. Turkish emergency service Afad estimated 40,642 deaths from the earthquakes recorded so far on Saturday, the official Anadolu news agency reported.

Added to these are the 3,688 counted in Syria by the White Helmets relief group, which operates in the northwestern opposition region, and by the official Syrian news agency SANA, which offers the count of all other areas under the government of Syrian President Bashar al -Assad. . The number of injured rises to 122,757 (108,000 in Turkey and 14,757 in Syria).

Thirteen days after the accident, these data are only a provisional balance, given that there are still tens of thousands of bodies under the rubble and Various estimates predict that the final toll will be around or exceed 100,000 dead. It is already the largest disaster in the region in almost a century.

State-run Anadolu News Agency shared footage of rescuers placing a man, woman and child on stretchers.after spending 296 hours buried under rubble in the Antioch District, Hatay Province.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca shared a video of the 40-year-old woman in a field hospital receiving treatment. “She IS conscious,” she tweeted. Even in the last hours a 45-year-old man was rescued alive from under the rubble.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Friday that rescue efforts were continuing at fewer than 200 sites, whileRescuers race against time to find more people alive.

The earthquake, which occurred in one of the most seismically active areas in the world, struck populated areas, where many were sleeping, in homes that weren’t built to withstand such powerful vibrations from the ground.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been criticized for the slow response to the disaster and for allow the construction of low-quality buildings. Officials had promised, following a 1999 earthquake that claimed more than 17,000 lives in northwest Turkey, building regulations would be tightened.

One of the latest bodies found was that of former Ghanaian national footballer Christian Atsu. It was his manager who confirmed that his body had been found under a collapsed building in Antakya.

The building where soccer player Atsu died, a 12-story luxury apartment building, was built in 2013 when Turkey had stricter building regulations. But, to the surprise and outrage of many, the blockade has crumbled. Turkish police arrested the contractor after he tried to flee the country, Anadolu said last week.

Officers arrested dozens of contractors while the government promises to crack down on lax building codes. More than 84,000 buildings have collapsed, need to be demolished urgently or have been severely damaged by the earthquake, Turkish Environment Minister Murat Kurum said on Friday.