A total of 430,000 people were evacuated from the earthquake area
Finland's defence minister said Saturday that his country will join NATO without waiting for Sweden if its Nordic neighbour's accession is held up by the Turkish government. Mikko Savola told The Associated Press on Saturday that Finland would prefer that the two countries join the alliance together, but it wouldn't hold up the process if Turkey decides to approve Finland, but not Sweden, as it has warned. No, no. Then we will join, Savola said in an interview on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich. Since they broke with decades of non-alignment in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, Finland and Sweden have insisted they want to join NATO together. But Turkey's reluctance to accept Sweden unless it steps up pressure on Kurdish exile groups has made it more likely the two will have to join the alliance at different speeds. Sweden is our closest partner, Savola said. Almost every week our defence forces are practising together and so on. It's a very deep
A war-battered Syria is dealing with a crisis in the wake of the earthquakes that struck Turkey and northwestern Syria in early February 2023. The task of delivering aid to all parts of Syria was fraught with daunting political and logistical challenges even before the earthquake. Watch the video to know why sending aid to Syria has been slow. #syria #earthquake #turkey #aid #relief #rescue
Two National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams that undertook rescue operations in earthquake-hit Turkiye returned to India on Friday, officials said. A total of three NDRF teams were sent to the quake-affected country on February 7 following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's directive to offer all possible assistance to that country. "Two teams comprising about 100 personnel have come back from Turkiye onboard IAF aircraft on Friday. The last team that has about 50 rescuers is expected to be here by Saturday," NDRF deputy inspector general (DIG) Mohsen Shahedi told PTI. Another officer said the NDRF rescuers, along with four canines, landed at the Hindon Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Ghaziabad after they were de-inducted from operation 'Dost' in Turkiye. As per official figures, the NDRF personnel brought out two survivors, girls aged 6 and 8, and retrieved 85 bodies from the flattened buildings in Nurdagi in Gaziantep province of Turkiye. They also provided medical assistance t
Rescuers have pulled more survivors from the debris of the Feb. 6 earthquake that devastated parts of Turkiye and Syria even as the window for finding people alive is closing fast. Here's a look at the key developments Friday from the aftermath of the earthquake. DEATH TOLL RISES The Turkish disaster management agency has updated the death toll from the powerful earthquake in Turkiye to 38,044, raising the overall number of fatalities in both Turkiye and Syria to 41,732. The death toll is certain to increase further as search teams retrieve more bodies amid the devastation. The powerful 7.8 earthquake has become Turkiye's deadliest disaster in modern history. MORE SURVIVORS RESCUED More than 10 days after the powerful earthquake struck, rescuers overnight pulled out a child, a woman and two men alive from wreckage. The latest rescues came as crews began clearing up debris in cities devastated by the earthquake. Neslihan Kilic, a 29-year-old mother of two, was removed from the
Nearly two weeks after a massive earthquake levelled tens of thousands of buildings and displaced millions of people in Turkiye and Syria, many are still struggling to fulfil their basic needs and some are bedding down in tents, factories, train cars and greenhouses. People pushed from their homes in the disaster zone described a wide range of conditions: Some were able to find regular hot showers, while others feared freezing to death. The Turkish government and dozens of aid groups have launched a massive relief effort. The government said Wednesday that more than 5,400 shipping containers have been deployed as shelters and over 200,000 tents dispatched. But it's facing a massive disaster. The government says at least 56,000 buildings, containing more than 225,000 homes, were either destroyed by the Feb. 6 quake or too damaged to be used. There is no official figure for the number of people displaced in Turkiye's side of the disaster region, which is home to some 14 million, or 16
Rescuers have pulled more survivors from the debris of the February 6 earthquake that devastated parts of Turkiye and Syria even as the window for finding people alive is closing fast. Here's a look at the key developments Friday from the aftermath of the earthquake. DEATH TOLL RISES The Turkish disaster management agency has updated the death toll from the powerful earthquake in Turkiye to 38,044, raising the overall number of fatalities in both Turkiye and Syria to 41,732. The death toll is certain to increase further as search teams retrieve more bodies amid the devastation. The powerful 7.8 earthquake has become Turkiye's deadliest disaster in modern history. MORE SURVIVORS RESCUED More than 10 days after the powerful earthquake struck, rescuers overnight pulled out a child, a woman and two men alive from wreckage. The latest rescues came as crews began clearing up debris in cities devastated by the earthquake. Neslihan Kilic, a 29-year-old mother of two, was removed from
Millions of people who survived the quake need humanitarian aid, authorities say, with many survivors left homeless in near-freezing winter temperatures
Turkey is home to the largest number of refugees in the world and has shown enormous generosity to its Syrian neighbors for years, he noted
A devastating earthquake that toppled buildings across parts of Turkiye and neighbouring Syria has revived a longstanding debate locally and in neighbouring Cyprus about a large nuclear power station being built on Turkiye's southern Mediterranean coastline. The plant's site in Akkuyu, located some 210 miles (338 kilometres) and 245 miles (394 kilometres) to the west of the February 6 tremors' epicentres, is being designed to endure powerful tremors and did not sustain any damage or experience powerful ground shaking from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and aftershocks. But the size of the quake the deadliest in Turkiye's modern history sharpened existing concerns about the facility being built on the edge of a major fault line. Rosatom, Russia's state-owned company in charge of the project, says the power station is designed to withstand extreme external influences from a magnitude 9 earthquake. In nuclear power plant construction, plants are designed to survive shaking that is mor
Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) said 195,962 people have been evacuated
Turkey has suffered cataclysmic casualties, Kluge underlined, with more than 31,000 deaths and 100,000 people injured due to the earthquakes
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday that more than 35,000 people have died in Turkiye as a result of last week's earthquake, making it the deadliest such disaster since the country's founding 100 years ago. While the death toll is almost certain to rise even further, many of the tens of thousands of survivors left homeless were still struggling to meet basic needs, like finding shelter from the bitter cold. Confirmed deaths in Turkiye passed those recorded from the massive Erzincan earthquake in 1939 that killed around 33,000 people. Erdogan said 1,05,505 were injured as a result of the February 6 quake centered around Kahramanmaras and its aftershocks. Almost 3,700 deaths have been confirmed in neighbouring Syria, taking the combined toll in both countries to over 39,000. The Turkish president, who has referred to the quake as "the disaster of the century," said more than 13,000 people were still being treated in hospital. Speaking in Ankara following a five-
The IMF chief signaled the need for resilience in our planet, in societies that must allow equal opportunities, and in people, who must benefit from education, health and good social protection
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Six canines of the NDRF deployed in earthquake-hit Turkiye have proved to be "very very effective" in rescuing survivors from under the debris even as teams from other countries have also utilised their services, officials said on Tuesday. The federal contingency force of India is also in the process of shifting its two teams from Gaziantep to Hatay on the Mediterranean coast of the country as the possibility of finding survivors in the former city is "almost negligible now". The third NDRF team is already in Hatay. The force has rescued two young girls - six years and eight years old, apart from 63 bodies since they began their search and rescue (SAR) operation in that country on February 7 after the Union government sent three of its teams to assist international rescue operations in Turkiye. The massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkiye and neighbouring Syria on February 6 has claimed more than 35,000 lives and rescuers fear the toll may climb further even as hope for
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to open two border crossings so that aid can reach to the affected areas in the region
Rescuers on Tuesday were working to reach people under the rubble in three provinces hit hard by the devastating quakes that hit Turkiye and Syria last Monday. The death toll from the magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes that struck nine hours apart on Feb. 6 in southeastern Turkiye and northern Syria passed 35,000, and was certain to increase as search teams find more bodies. Turkish television continued broadcasting rescues Tuesday, as experts said the window to find survivors is closing. In Adiyaman province, rescuers reached 18-year-old Muhammed Cafer Cetin, and medics gave him an IV with fluids before attempting a dangerous extraction from a building that crumbled further as rescuers were working. Medics surrounded him to place a neck brace and he was on a stretcher with an oxygen mask, making it out to daylight on the 199th hour. We are so happy, his uncle said. Two others were rescued from one building that's been destroyed in central Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter, Tuesday some
India has sent emergency relief material comprising life-saving medicines, protective items and critical care equipment valued at over Rs 7 crore to quake-hit Turkiye and Syria, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday. Highlighting the efforts of his ministry in providing emergency relief material to Turkiye and Syria, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted, India is providing assistance to the two countries in the spirit of its age-old tradition of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. On February 6, three truck loads of relief materials were arranged at the Hindon air base comprising life-saving emergency medicines and protective items within 12 hours, the ministry said in a statement. The 5,945-ton emergency relief material included 27 life-saving medicines, two kinds of protective items and three categories of critical care equipments, valued at approximately Rs 2 crore, the statement said. On February 10, a bigger lot of relief materials was arranged for both Turkiye and Syria. The ...
Turkey has offered to the United Nations to open two more border gates into Syria through Turkey's southern province of Kilis, but the gates would serve one way into Syria for humanitarian aid