More than 44,000 people have died after the earthquake that devastated southeastern Turkey and northern Syria 13 days ago, according to a new official report announced on Saturday, while two buried people were saved.
Almost 300 hours after this earthquake of magnitude 7.8 which occurred on February 6, the chances of finding survivors are dwindling day by day.
It is the region’s deadliest natural disaster in centuries.
On Saturday, a man and a woman were found after spending 296 hours trapped in rubble in Antakya, state news agency Anadolu reported, which broadcast footage of their rescue.
On the other hand, a 12-year-old child found at their side died a few minutes after efforts were made to save him, according to the agency.
According to the latter, three of the couple’s children, including the 12-year-old, died in the earthquake.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca released a video of the 40-year-old woman in a field hospital while receiving treatment.
“She is conscious,” he tweeted.
Ghanaian footballer
Rescue teams from Kyrgyzstan continued their search in Antakya on Saturday, hoping to find survivors after thermal tests showed signs of life under the rubble, journalists from theFrance Media Agency.
On Friday, a 45-year-old man was extracted from the rubble, several hours after three other survivors, including a 14-year-old boy, still alive under the rubble.
The enthusiastic reactions of witnesses on the spot in recent days after each rescue have diminished as the number of survivors has reduced.
Among the victims was former Ghanaian international Christian Atsu, whose body was found under a collapsed building in the city of Antakya.
His death was confirmed by Murat Uzunmehmet, his agent in Turkey, quoted by the Turkish private agency DHA, ending almost two weeks of concern and research for the relatives of the 31-year-old footballer.
The earthquake, which occurred in one of the most active seismic zones in the world, hit inhabited areas where buildings were unable to withstand such powerful tremors.
Lax building standards
Officials and doctors said on Saturday that 40,642 people have died in Turkey, while in Syria the death toll, which has been stable for several days, is 3,688, bringing the confirmed total to 44,330 killed in the disaster.
The drama puts Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan under great pressure due to slow rescues and construction deficiencies.
In 1999, following an earthquake that killed more than 17,000 people in northwestern Turkey, authorities promised that building regulations would be tightened.
In vain. The building where footballer Atsu died, a 12-story luxury building, was built in 2013 when Turkey had stricter building standards.
Turkish police have since arrested the building contractor as he tried to flee the country, Anadolu reported last week.
Police have also arrested dozens of contractors as the government vows to crack down on lax building standards.
“Clean up and keep on living”
More than 84,000 buildings have collapsed, are in urgent need of demolition or were badly damaged in the quake, Turkish Environment Minister Murat Kurum said on Friday.
One of the hard-hit regions is Antakya, an ancient crossroads of civilizations.
Optician Cuneyt Eroglu, 45, sifts through the rubble of his Kubat eyewear store. The city has suffered several earthquakes — nearly one every 100 years — and is no stranger to rebuilding.
“We will clean up and continue to live here,” he said amid his twisting mounts.
The street that passes in front of his shop has not yet been emptied of its rubble and bent metal structures.
Eroglu, whose family escaped the earthquake, now lives in a tent in a village outside Antakya. “It wouldn’t be right to leave Antakya,” he said.