The death toll in the Syria-Turkey earthquake reached over 21,700 on Friday, as hopes further diminished of finding survivors in the rubble of buildings destroyed in the 7.8-magnitude temblor that struck early Monday morning and the 7.5-magnitude quake that followed nine hours later.
Expectations faded that people would be found alive in the remains of the thousands of toppled buildings in both countries after the first crucial 72 hours passed in the bitter winter cold. Temperatures in both Syria and Turkey have fallen to below zero at night.
Even so, hopes were raised as a new-born baby boy and his mother were pulled from a downed building in the Hatay Province of Turkey, some 90 hours after the first earthquake hit.
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Yağız Ulaş bebek sadece 10 günlük. Depremden 90 saat sonra Hatay Samandağ’da annesi ile birlikte enkazdan çıkarıldı. pic.twitter.com/7jjjEXQfiV [2]
— Ekrem İmamoğlu (@ekrem_imamoglu) February 9, 2023 [3]
In northwestern Syria, six trucks of aid from the United Nations arrived via Turkey as rescue workers desperately called for assistance. The country has been embroiled in a brutal civil war for more than a decade, complicating aid deliveries to the rebel-held area devastated by the quakes. A doctor working in the affected area told the BBC that their medical supplies could not even meet the needs of one-fifth of those who require them.