Quake death toll in Turkey and Syria rises to almost 47,000
A construction vehicle works to demolish a damaged building in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in the Hatay area, Turkey, Feb. 19. Reuters-Yonhap
The number killed in Turkey by the February 6 earthquake rose to 41,020 late on Sunday, the Anadolu news agency reported on the basis of information from the country's AFAD disaster authority.
The new figure pushed the total death toll to 47,000, including the 5,900 reported in Syria. The Syrian figures are, however, not being updated as frequently as the Turkish.
Search and rescue operations in the region along the Turkey-Syria border region have almost all ended, as rescuers move on to retrieve bodies from under the rubble.
Missions to recover people alive have officially ended in nine quake-hit provinces, except Kahramanmara? and Hatay, the head of the disaster authority AFAD, Yunus Sezer, told reporters in Ankara on Sunday.
According to the United Nations, 8.8 million people have been affected by the disaster in Syria.
"[The] majority [is] anticipated to need some form of humanitarian assistance," U.N. Deputy Syria Representative Najat Rochdi wrote on Twitter on Sunday. "The U.N. is fully committed to doing more to help all Syrians," she said.
Activists and aid workers in rebel-held areas in north-western Syria have complained of a lack of U.N. assistance in the days following the February 6 quakes.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds gloves, as U.S. military personnel load aid onto a vehicle at Incirlik Air Base near Adana during an official visit after a 7,8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey's south-east, Feb. 19. AFP-Yonhap
So far, more than 140 trucks carrying U.N. aid have travelled from Turkey to rebel-held north-western Syria since the disaster, where more than 9,000 buildings were completely or partially destroyed, causing at least 11,000 people to lose their homes.
According to the U.N., the most urgent needs of those affected now include shelter such as tents.
Some 600 schools have been destroyed in Syria, Yasmine Sherif, director of the Education Cannot Wait (ECW) U.N. fund, told Al-Jazeera. The fund is distributing $7 million in emergency aid.
The first 7.7-magnitude quake struck Turkey and Syria in the early hours of February 6; another large tremor hit at noon that day and there have been more than 6,000 aftershocks, disaster authority AFAD said.
The devastating earthquake destroyed or damaged around 105,000 buildings and left tens of thousands homeless in south-eastern Turkey.
More than 1.2 million people are believed to have been evacuated from the south-eastern Turkey disaster zone. Over 1 million locals are currently living out of temporary shelters in quake-hit provinces, according to AFAD.
To help victims, the Turkish government called on property owners to provide housing for the earthquake victims and for those who don't own property to donate money.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Turkey's southern Adana province on Sunday for his 2-day visit, state broadcaster TRT reported.
In his first ever visit to Turkey as secretary of state, Blinken met quake victims and held talks with Turkish officials over U.S.?quake aid and the proposed NATO expansion to include Sweden and Finland, among other topics.
The U.S. State Department simultaneously announced an increase in U.S. aid to $185 million. (DPA)
Women and a young boy stand atop the rubble of their collapsed house in Yaylakonak village in Adiyaman district, a Kurdish alevi community village where 108 people died and 170 houses collapsed after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck parts of Turkey and Syria, Feb. 19. AFP-Yonhap