Turkey-Syria earthquake: Rescuers race to find survivors as toll tops 21,000

Rescuers scoured debris in a desperate search for survivors on Friday four days after a massive earthquake hit Turkey and Syria killing nearly 22000 people as the United States offered an 85million aid packageThe first UN aid deliveries arrived on Thursday in Syrian rebelheld zones but chances of finding survivors have dimmed since the passing of the threeday mark that experts consider a critical period to save livesThe US Agency for International Development said its aid package will go to partners on the ground to deliver urgently needed aid for millions of people including through food shelter and emergency health servicesIt will also support safe drinking water and sanitation to prevent the outbreak of disease USAID said in a statementBitter cold hampered search efforts in both countries but more than 80 hours after the disaster struck 16yearold Melda Adtas was found alive in the southern Turkish city of AntakyaHer overjoyed father was in tears and the grieving nation cheered an agonisingly rare piece of good newsMy dear my dear he called out as rescuers pulled the teen out of the rubble and the watching crowd broke into applauseThe 78magnitude quake struck early Monday as people slept in a region where many had already suffered loss and displacement due to Syrias civil warTop aid officials were planning to visit affected areas with World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths both announcing tripsThe president of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mirjana Spoljaric travelled to strifetorn Aleppo SyriaCommunities struggling after years of fierce fighting are now crippled by the earthquake Spoljaric tweetedAs this tragic event unfolds peoples desperate plight must be addressed Aid reaches rebel areas An aid convoy crossed the Turkish border into rebelheld northwestern Syria on Thursday the first delivery into the area since the quake an official at the Bab alHawa crossing told AFPThe crossing is the only way UN assistance can reach civilians without going through areas controlled by Syrian government forcesA decade of civil war and SyrianRussian aerial bombardment had already destroyed hospitals collapsed the economy and prompted electricity fuel and water shortagesUN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres urged the Security Council to authorise the opening of new crossborder humanitarian aid points between Turkey and SyriaFour million people living in the rebelheld areas have had to rely on the Bab alHawa crossing as part of an aid operation authorised by the UN Security Council nearly a decade agoThis is the moment of unity its not a moment to politicise or to divide but it is obvious that we need massive support Guterres saidAlso Read Turkey earthquake NDRF rescues 6yearold girl about 90hours after quake Freezing temperatures Temperatures in the Turkish city of Gaziantep located near the epicentre of the quake plunged to minus three degrees Celsius 26 degrees Fahrenheit early on FridayDespite the cold thousands of families had to spend the night in cars and makeshift tents too scared or banned from returning to their homesParents walked the streets of the city carrying their children in blankets because it was warmer than sitting in a tentGyms mosques schools and some stores have opened at night But beds are scarce and thousands spend the nights in cars with engines running to provide heatI fear for anyone who is trapped under the rubble in this said Melek Halici who wrapped her twoyearold daughter in a blanket as they watched rescuers working into the night The quiet is agonising Mondays quake was the largest Turkey has seen since 1939 when 33000 people died in the eastern Erzincan provinceOfficials and medics said 18342 people had died in Turkey and 3377 in Syria from Mondays tremor bringing the confirmed total to 21719Experts fear the number will continue to rise sharplyAnger has mounted over the governments handling of the disasterPeople who didnt die from the earthquake were left to die in the cold Hakan Tanriverdi told AFP in Adiyaman province one of the areas hardest hitOn a visit to the area Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted there had been shortcomings in the governments handling of the disasterIn the devastated Turkish town of Nurdagi close to the epicentre emergency workers using drones and heat detecting monitors ordered silence when a potential survivor was foundThe quiet is agonising We just dont know what to expect Emre a local resident said as he waited next to one block on a main road into the town Relief pledges Dozens of nations have pledged to help The World Bank said it would give 178 billion in aid to Turkey to help relief and recovery effortsImmediate assistance of 780 million will be offered from two existing projects in Turkey said the bank while an added 1 billion in operations is being prepared to support affected peopleIn addition to a staggering human toll the quakes economic cost appears likely to exceed 2 billion and could surpass 4 billion Fitch Ratings 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