Syria earthquake: Child pulled from rubble of collapsed building
Rescuers have warned that “time is running out” for survivors still trapped under the rubble of buildings levelled by the massive earthquakes which hit Turkey and Syria.
More than 9,400 people have been reported dead in the two countries, with some 30,000 injured, according to authorities – making it the world’s deadliest seismic event since the 2011 tsunami which killed nearly 20,000 people.
The search for survivors across Turkey and Syria has been impeded by the sub-zero temperatures and close to 200 aftershocks, which made the search through unstable structures perilous.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake was the deadliest to hit Turkey since 1999, and officials fear the death toll will keep rising.
“People are losing that window where they might still survive if they are stuck under the rubble,” Shreen Mahmoud from UK-based Muslim charity SKT Welfare told BBC Radio 5 Live.
Rescuers “on the ground right now are unfortunately pulling dead bodies from the rubble”, she said, warning that hospitals in northern Syria are “running out of fuel and electricity, they need diesel to run the generators, they need painkillers, antibiotics, all the medication”.
