The death toll of a devastating earthquake in southern Turkey and Syria jumped to more than 7,800 people on Tuesday as rescuers worked against time in harsh winter conditions to dig survivors out of the rubble of collapsed buildings.
As the scale of the disaster became ever more apparent, the death toll looked likely to rise considerably. One U.N. official said thousands of children may have died. With little immediate help at hand, residents picked through rubble sometimes without even basic tools in a desperate hunt for survivors. Aid officials voiced particular concern about the situation in Syria, already afflicted by a humanitarian crisis after nearly 12 years of civil war.
Pakistani actress Saba Qamar recently took to Twitter to appeal for Sryia during this ordeal. She published a flight radar image of the region hit by the calamity, which delineates that little to no flights are landing in Syria for rescue work due to various sanctions. She wrote, "Lift the sanctions on Syria. Let Syrians recover! My heart bleeds for them."
https://twitter.com/s_qamarzaman/status/1623227645268836352
https://twitter.com/s_qamarzaman/status/1622489939492368385
Other
also tweeted about the scenario, asking their fans to pray for the affectees.
https://twitter.com/Hadiqa_Kiani/status/1623185056134201344
https://twitter.com/iamhumayunsaeed/status/1622603846685011976
https://twitter.com/faysalquraishi/status/1622655584884649984
https://twitter.com/MawraHocane/status/1622639544121294848
https://twitter.com/farhan_saeed/status/1622672331662589952
https://twitter.com/adnanactor/status/1622459687105863682
https://twitter.com/FarooqHareem/status/1622571909404581888
https://twitter.com/Ahsankhanuk/status/1622489481717637120
https://twitter.com/HSYCOUTUREKING/status/1623228029987160068
https://twitter.com/MominaMustehsan/status/1622590834016194562
The Syrian state news agency SANA said at least 812 people were killed in the government-held provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Idlib, and Tartous. Mosques opened their doors to families whose homes were damaged.
At least 1,120 people were killed in Syria’s opposition-held northwest with the toll expected to “rise dramatically”, the White Helmets rescue team said.
“There are a lot of efforts by our teams, but they are unable to respond to the catastrophe and a large number of collapsed buildings,” group head Raed al-Saleh said.
A U.N. humanitarian official in Syria said fuel shortages and the harsh weather were creating obstacles.