Turkey-Syria Earthquake: Dramatic rescues but toll rises

Emergency crews made a series of dramatic rescues in Turkey on Friday pulling several people some almost unscathed from the rubble four days after a catastrophic earthquake killed more than 22000The 78 magnitude earthquake hit the border region between Turkey and Syria an area home to more than 135 million people early Monday morning With morgues and cemeteries overwhelmed bodies lay wrapped in blankets rugs and tarps in the streets of some citiesTemperatures remain below freezing across the large region and many people have no place to shelter The government has distributed millions of hot meals as well as tents and blankets but was still struggling to reach many people in needRescuers and his mother surround Adnan Mohammet Korkut after he was rescued in Gaziantep Turkey FridayTurkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that death toll in the country rose to 19388 while 77711 people were injured as a result Turkeyrsquos disaster management agency said more than 75000 survivors have been evacuated to other provincesAlso Read TurkeySyria quake Survivors of the catastrophe struggle to stay warm and fedMore than 3300 have been confirmed killed on the other side of the border in wartorn Syria bringing the total number of dead to more than 22000Engineers suggested that the scale of the devastation is partly explained by lax enforcement of building codes which some have warned for years would make them vulnerable to earthquakes The problem has been largely ignored experts said because addressing it would be expensive unpopular and restrain a key engine of the countryrsquos economic growthBefore dawn in Gaziantep near the epicenter of the quake in Turkey rescuers pulled Adnan Muhammed Korkut from the basement where had been trapped since the temblor struck Monday The 17yearold beamed a smile at the crowd of friends and relatives who chanted ldquoAdnanrdquo ldquoAdnanrdquo clapping and crying tears of joy as he was carried out and put onto a stretcherldquoThank God you arrivedrdquo he said embracing his mother and others who leaned down to kiss and hug him as he was being loaded into an ambulance ldquoThank you everyonerdquoTrapped for 94 hours but not crushed the teenager said he had been forced to drink his own urine to slake his thirst ldquoI was able to survive that wayrdquo he saidldquoI have a son just like yourdquo a rescue worker identified only as Yasemin told him after giving him a warm hug ldquoI swear to you I have not slept for four days I swear I did not sleep I was trying to get you outrdquoIn Adiyaman rescue crews pulled 4yearold Yagiz Komsu from the debris of his home 105 hours after the quake They saved his mother laterDramatic rescues were reported elsewhere including in Antakya where crews saved a 10yearold girl overnight Elsewhere in the city of Iskenderun nine survivors were located Friday trapped in a building In the Turkish city of Diyarbakir a woman was rescued and rescuers were trying to reach her childRescuers pulled a woman alive out of the rubble of a collapsed building in Turkey on Friday prompting cheers from onlookers about 104 hours after she was buried by the huge earthquakeGerman emergency workers carefully lifted 40yearold Zeynep Kahraman on a stretcher past shattered blocks of concrete and twisted metal in the town of Kirikhan into an ambulance ldquoNow I believe in miraclesrdquo Steven Bayer the leader of the International Search and Rescue team said at the site ldquoYou can see the people crying and hugging each other Itrsquos such a huge relief that this woman under such conditions came out so fit Itrsquos an absolute miraclerdquo he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever