Turkieye: Overwhelmed rescuers struggled to save people trapped under rubble as death toll from devastating earthquake in Turkiye and Syria surpassed 7,000, with despair mounting and scale of disaster hampering relief efforts.

Magnitude 7.8 quake hit Turkiye and neighbouring Syria early on Monday, toppling entire apartment blocks, wrecking hospitals and leaving thousands more people injured or homeless. In Turkish city of Antakya near Syrian border, where 10-storey buildings had crumbled onto streets, Reuters journalists saw rescue work being conducted on one out of dozens of mounds of rubble.

Temperature was close to freezing as rain came down and there was no electricity or fuel in city. Turkiye death toll climbed to 5,381 people, Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said. Death toll in Syria already devastated by more than 11 years of war, stands at more than 1,500, according to Syrian government and rescue service in insurgent-held northwest.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Turkiye is said to have been postponed. Government sources say Mr Sharif was to leave for Turkiye on Wednesday to visit the earthquake-affected areas. The new schedule of the PM’s visit will be announced soon, the sources said, adding the visit has been postponed owing to rehabilitation work in the earthquake-affected areas.

Published in The Daily National Courier, February, 08 2023

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