Death Toll Rises to 5,000 in Turkey-Syria Earthquake

The death toll in the massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria rose on Tuesday morning to over 5,000, with more than 1,500 of those deaths in Syria. The announcement of the nearly doubling of the death toll from the night before came as a magnitute 5.6 earthquake hit central Turkey, followed later by a 5.7 magnitude temblor in eastern Turkey, some of the 17 earthquakes, or aftershocks that have hit the area since the early Monday 7.8-magnitude temblor, that was felt in countries throughout the region, struck.

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said nearly 8,000 people have been rescued from 4,758 buildings destroyed in the earthquake. At least 16,000 people have been reported injured so far in the quake. Turkey declared seven days of national mourning in the wake of the quake.

In Syria, hundreds of families remain trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings, Raed al-Saleh, director of Civil Defense in northern Syria, also known as the White Helmets, told Reuters. Buildings and infrastructure in Syria already were in poor shape after 11 years of civil war. More than 4 million people in northwest Syria, many internally displaced by the civil war and living in refugee camps, depend on aid.

“The infrastructure is damaged, the roads that we used to use for humanitarian work are damaged, we have to be creative in how to get to the people… but we are working hard,” UN resident coordinator El-Mostafa Benlamlih told Reuters.

Meanwhile, the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO has expressed concern over heavy damage in two cities on its heritage list — Aleppo in Syria and Diyarbakir in Turkey.