Turkey-Syria earthquake- latest: Desperation grips Syria as food supplies start to run out
Death toll passes 21,000 as hundreds still trapped under mountains of rubble
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Reeling from the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, Syrians are now facing starvation as food stocks are beginning to run out in the northwest of the country.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday it was running out of stocks and called to open more border crossings from Turkey after both countries were ravaged by the natural disaster.
“Northwest Syria, where 90 per cent of the population depends on humanitarian assistance, is a big concern. We have reached the people there, but we need to replenish our stocks,” Corinne Fleischer, WFP Regional Director in the Middle East, Northern Africa and Eastern Europe, told reporters.
“We are running out of stocks and we need access to bring new stocks in. The border crossing is open now, but we need to get new border crossings open.”
The Independent is asking readers to donate to its appeal, with all funds raised going to the Disasters Emergency Committee, which brings together leading UK aid charities to help with the search and rescue effort and provide vital medicines, clean water and temporary accommodation for survivors.
Expats, aid workers and celebrities urge quake donations ‘for sake of humanity’
British expats, aid workers and celebrities have urged people to send money to help the Turkey and Syria earthquake relief effort “for the sake of humanity”.
The Disasters Emergency Committee has launched an appeal for funds with the support of celebrities such as Daniel Craig, Sir Michael Palin, Tamsin Greig and the Rev Richard Coles – while also receiving the backing of the Prince and Princess of Wales, who made an undisclosed donation.
Expats, aid workers and celebrities urge quake donations ‘for sake of humanity’
The death toll from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria has risen to more than 19,000.
Rishi Sunak joins volunteers at earthquake donation centre
Rishi Sunak called the scenes from the aftermath of the Turkey and Syria earthquake “heart-breaking” as he helped students at a donation centre set up after the disaster, reports Ted Hennessey.
The prime minister met University College London (UCL) students in the capital on Thursday evening, helping pack items at the centre and donating hats, scarves and blankets.
At the centre in central London, set up by students from the UCL Turkish Society, Mr Sunak praised volunteers. “It’s been amazing to spend time with the students here at UCL who have come together to organise donations,” he told reporters.
“People in Turkey are affected by this awful tragedy and I’m sure this has been replicated across the country. It’s really hard, actually, to comprehend the scale of the tragedy that has happened. I as a dad, watching parents try and find their young children in the rubble, is heart-breaking. And we will do everything that we can to help Turkey.”
The UK government has pledged to match £5m in funds raised through an appeal to help the rescue and relief effort.
Rishi Sunak joins volunteers at earthquake donation centre
The Prime Minister helped students pack items at the centre, as well as donating hats, scarves and blankets.
Analysis | Erdogan faces anger of his people over Turkey earthquake relief
Our international correspondent Borzou Daragahi reports:
Anger is growing across Turkey to the way President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has handled the response to the devastating series of earthquakes and aftershocks that has left more than 16,000 dead in the country and made tens of thousands more homeless.
Rescue workers and residents in both Turkey and Syria – where thousands more have died – are still searching for survivors of the earthquakes, which struck heavily-populated regions of the both countries. But the political recriminations have already begun, with presidential and parliamentary elections having been scheduled – at least for now – on 14 May.
More than 13 million or 15 per cent of Turkey’s 85 million people across 10 provinces have been impacted by the disaster, with Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) facing accusations from earthquake survivors that the official response has been slow and uneven, especially in regions politically loyal to opposition parties. "Where is this state?" the Karar newspaper blared in a headline.
“The government has not prepared for an earthquake for 20 years,” said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the opposition People’s Republican Party, in a video. “If there is one person responsible for this, it is Erdogan.”
‘Where is the state?’ Erdogan faces anger of his people over Turkey earthquake relief
The president has admitted some issues with the speed of help arriving in devastated areas, but it has done little to calm survivors who have lost loved ones and their homes, writes Borzou Daragahi
US to provide $85m humanitarian aid to Turkey, Syria
The US said it will provide $85m in urgent humanitarian assistance to Turkey and Syria after a massive earthquake that killed more than 20,000 people.
The announcement by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) came shortly after secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke with Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, their second call in four days.
“This new funding is supporting USAID’s humanitarian partners to deliver urgently-needed aid for millions of people in Turkey and in Syria,” USAID said in a statement.
Washington has already sent to Turkey teams consisting of around 160 people and 12 dogs, whose top priority is to help save people from under thousands of collapsed buildings.
US eases sanctions on Syria to allow earthquake aid
The US Treasury Department has issued a licence to send aid to Syria without incurring sanctions for nearly six months.
The licence grants the “broad authorisation necessary to support immediate disaster relief efforts in Syria”, the Treasury said in a statement on Thursday.
Wally Adeyemo, the deputy secretary of the Treasury, said: “As international allies and humanitarian partners mobilise to help those affected, I want to make very clear that US sanctions in Syria will not stand in the way of life-saving efforts for the Syrian people.”
Syrian refugee who lost 25 relatives in quake says ‘fate caught up with us’
A Syrian refugee has spoken of his heartbreak after losing 25 relatives in the deadly earthquakes that devastated large parts of Syria and Turkey.
Amhad Idris said his entire family fled his home in 2012 to find refuge in the northwestern Syrian city of Saraqib, which also fell to rebel forces that same year, but said “fate caught up with us”.
The majority of his family was killed when the magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the city on Monday.
Visiting a makeshift morgue – which are reportedly running full throughout the already war-torn country – on Tuesday, Mr Idris was seen walking between the bodies of his loved ones as he clutched his dead grandson.
Read more.
Syrian refugee who lost 25 family in Turkey earthquake says ‘fate caught up with us’
Amhad Idris has spoken out about his heartbreak, after visiting a morgue in Saraqib, where his family is buried
Toddler pulled from ruins after 78 hours
A two-year-old boy has been pulled from the wreckage of a destroyed building in Turkey, 78 hours after the earthquake that devastated large swathes of the country.
The toddler was pulled from the wreckage of a four-floor apartment building in the Odabası district in the city of Antakya. A Romanian and Polish rescue team worked a small gap between some collapsed concrete and lifted the boy to safety as he wept.
The child was handed to health workers and put into an ambulance to be taken away for a medical check. The boy’s unlikely escape prompted tears of joy from the rescue team.
Chris Stevenson reports.
Toddler pulled from ruins after 78 hours trapped by Turkey earthquake
Earlier, in the same city, a father and daughter were pulled from the wreckage of another collapsed building
Teen rescued from rubble after 80 hours
A 16-year-old girl was pulled out alive from the earthquake rubble after 80 hours, leaving her overjoyed father in tears and the grieving nation cheering.
The rescue team took five hours to save her life after neighbours in the severely affected Antakya city raised the alarm after hearing sounds from the splintered walls.
“My dear, my dear!” the girl’s father called out, according to AFP, as rescuers pulled the teen out and the watching crowd broke into applause.
The death toll across Turkey and Syria has climbed over 20,000.
Syria orphans from quake taken in by overwhelmed relatives
A Syrian baby girl whose mother gave birth to her while trapped under the rubble of their home during the devastating earthquake now has a name: Aya, Arabic for “a sign from God.”
With her parents and all her siblings killed, her great-uncle will take her in.
Aya is one of untold numbers of orphans left by Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, which killed more than 20,000 people in northern Syria and southern Turkey.
In most cases, relatives take in orphaned children, doctors and experts say. But those surviving relatives are also dealing with the wreckage of their own lives and families.
Read more.
Syria orphans from quake taken in by overwhelmed relatives
This week's earthquake that devastated parts of southeastern Turkey and northern Syria has left unknown numbers of orphans
Live: Rescue efforts continue in Turkey after earthquake death toll passes 20,000
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