Turkey earthquake death toll reaches 35

Rescuers have so far managed to rescue 45 people alive from the rubble since Friday night. Search work continues, but hopes of finding more survivors fade. The 6.8 magnitude shock hit the country’s eastern region.

Rescuers continued on Sunday operations to search for survivors under the rubble of buildings in the Turkish city of Elazig, east of the country after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake shook the region on Friday night, leaving at least 35 people dead.

A total of 45 people were removed alive from the rubble, government officials said. But hopes of finding more survivors are fading, as teams continue with the search. In addition to the thirty-five people who lost their lives, a hundred people were hospitalized, 13 of them in serious condition as a result of the tragedy.

Many people in the province of Elazig and near Malatya spent several hours and even days under piles of rubble before rescue workers finally reached them.

A 35-year-old woman named Ayse Yildiz was stuck for 28 hours under the rubble of her building in Elazig, along with her 2-year-old daughter, Yusra. According to the Turkish media, rescue workers pulled the girl out of the wreckage around 8:30 pm (local time) on Saturday. But the mother’s rescue took almost five additional hours because her arm was trapped under a pile of rubble.

“Can you hear me?” footage showed a rescuer calling to the mother. “We are coming. We will save you,”.

The woman responded: “Please get me out; I cannot stand it anymore. Get my daughter, I am nothing without my kid.” The rescuers eventually managed to pull her out of the rubble with a crane, safe but in tears due to the pain.

Another woman, called Azize, was removed from the rubble after being held for 17 hours in the Mustafapasa neighborhood. She contacted authorities and spoke with a worker by phone during the rescue.

A 12-year-old Mirac Disli boy was rescued after 11 am but died in the hospital, Turkish media reported. He was stuck in the rubble with his six-month pregnant mother, Pinar, and his father, Meric, who were rescued 12 hours after the earthquake and were hospitalized.

Turkey’s Presidency for Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD) said 18 people died and more than 600 were injured in Elazig, the region hardest hit by the earthquake. The epicenter of the quake, magnitude 6.8, was in the small town of Sivrice, approximately 30 kilometers south of Elazig.

The quake left, in addition to the 35 dead, more than 1,600 people injured. AFAD said more than 1,000 buildings were damaged.

At a news conference in Istanbul on Sunday, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that every effort is being made to assist the victims. He also promised to provide shelter as soon as possible for those left homeless.

“Every effort has been made to ensure that citizens whose homes have collapsed or been damaged do not suffer in this winter period,” said Erdogan.

Turkey has a history of strong earthquakes.

For instance, over 17,000 people lost their lives in August 1999 when a 7.6 magnitude quake struck the town of Izmit, a city southeast of Istanbul. In 2011, another strong quake happened in the eastern city of Van and killed more than 500 people.