Tag: 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake

New quake brings fresh losses to residents of Turkey, Syria

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ISTANBUL (AP) — Survivors of the earthquake that jolted Turkey and Syria 15 days ago, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving hundreds of thousands of others homeless, dealt with more trauma and loss Tuesday after another deadly quake and aftershocks rocked the region.

The 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Monday evening had its epicenter in the Defne district of Turkey’s Hatay province, which was of the area’s worst affected by the Feb. 6 magnitude 7.8 quake that killed nearly 46,000 people in the two countries.

Turkey’s disaster management authority, AFAD, said the new quake killed six people and injured 294 others, including 18 who were in critical condition. In Syria, a woman and a girl died as a result of panic during the earthquake in the provinces of Hama and Tartus, pro-government media said.

Monday’s quake was felt in Jordan, Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon and Egypt. A magnitude 5.8 quake followed, along with dozens of aftershocks. The White Helmets, northwest Syria’s civil defense organization, said about 190 people suffered injuries in rebel-held areas and that several flimsy buildings collapsed but there were no reports of anyone trapped under the debris.

In Turkey, teacher Zuher Capar, 42, said he was mourning the loss of relatives in the original earthquake and having a meal with his aunt and uncle near the Hatay town of Samandag when they felt Monday’s temblor.

“It shook a little, then it grew strong,” he said. “The electricity went and there were screams everywhere. There were small children in the house. They were screaming, my aunt was crying.”

On Feb. 6, Capar rushed to try to help his cousin, the cousin’s wife and the couple’s small children out of the rubble of their collapsed home, but they did not survive.

“We had barely overcome the sadness (from the first earthquake),” he said.

While his large family’s home withstood the quake earlier in the month, it was damaged on Monday. Capar said they are too frightened to sleep there and plan to stay in a large tent and cars.

“We are trying to stay strong but it is a terrifying process. The cities we knew, the memories we had, have been destroyed,” he said. “When we go in the streets, there is only rubble and heavy machinery. It’s like a horror movie scene.”

Turkish officials warned residents not to go into the remains of their homes, but people have done so to retrieve what they can. Three of the people killed Monday were inside a damaged four-story building when the new quake hit.

Aftershocks and the instability of the structure complicated the rescue effort, and it took several hours for search crews to find the bodies, Turkish news agency DHA said.

Dr. Tahsin Cinar, an anesthesiologist using vacation time to help provide medical care in Hatay as a representative of the Turkish Medical Association, said earthquake survivors need serious help with their mental health.

“They feel so alone, so deserted and very anxious. Even a small tremor leads to a big anxious reaction,” he said.

Cinar and other volunteers initially provided emergency care for people with physical injuries. Now, they are seeing more signs of psychological trauma, depression and the stress that comes with a lack of safe housing, winter weather and a pause in education.

“There is nearly nothing to create social well-being,” he said.

The U.N.’s World Food Program said Monday’s quake frightened employees who were distributing food to hundreds of thousands of people in northwest Syria and Turkey. The employees are sleeping in their cars in freezing temperatures while still trying to do their jobs, the program said.

Kamal Abuhassan’s small house in Jinderis, Syria, was damaged in the the first earthquake, but after a few days, he and his family returned. They ran out when Monday’s quake hit; the dwelling is now partially collapsed into piles of rubble.

“Our house is ruined, but at least our kids are OK,“ Abuhassan said.

He has set up a tent just outside the house, too afraid to go back inside.

“We just don’t know when the next earthquake is going to happen. Where else are we supposed to go other than tents?” he said.

Some 13.5 million people live in Turkey’s 11 quake-hit provinces, where authorities said more than 139,000 buildings were either destroyed or so severely damaged that they need to be torn down.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 865,000 people were living in tents as of Tuesday. Some 270 tent cities have been set up in the affected provinces, and winter weather added to the suffering of displaced citizens.

Umit Ozalp, who has lived for 40 years in Antakya, a historic city that’s now devastated, was preparing to leave, joining others carrying just a few small bags at a bus station.

“We have nothing left. Our home, our homeland, our children. We lost our work. Our situation is painful,” Ozalp told the IHA news agency.

Kenan Caglar, a bus company employee, said the company was transporting at least 2,000 passengers a day, most bound for Istanbul or the Mediterranean cities of Antalya and Mersin.

The majority of deaths in the massive Feb. 6 quake, which was followed by a magnitude 7.5 temblor nine hours later, were in Turkey, where at least 42,310 people died, according to the disaster management agency.

Turkey’s defense minister said about 20,000 Syrians living in Turkey had returned to Syria after the quakes.

“They are returning to their lands because they lost their homes and their relatives,” Hulusi Akar said from Hatay on Tuesday.

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Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Omar Alham in Jinderis, Syria contributed.

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February 21, 2023
New quake brings fresh losses to residents of Turkey, Syria

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ISTANBUL — Survivors of the earthquake that jolted Turkey and Syria 15 days ago, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving hundreds of thousands of others homeless, dealt with more trauma and loss Tuesday after another deadly quake and aftershocks rocked the region.

The 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Monday evening had its epicenter in the Defne district of Turkey’s Hatay province, which was of the area’s worst affected by the Feb. 6 magnitude 7.8 quake that killed nearly 46,000 people in the two countries.

Turkey’s disaster management authority, AFAD, said the new quake killed six people and injured 294 others, including 18 who were in critical condition. In Syria, a woman and a girl died as a result of panic during the earthquake in the provinces of Hama and Tartus, pro-government media said.

Monday’s quake was felt in Jordan, Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon and Egypt. A magnitude 5.8 quake followed, along with dozens of aftershocks. The White Helmets, northwest Syria’s civil defense organization, said about 190 people suffered injuries in rebel-held areas and that several flimsy buildings collapsed but there were no reports of anyone trapped under the debris.

In Turkey, teacher Zuher Capar, 42, said he was mourning the loss of relatives in the original earthquake and having a meal with his aunt and uncle near the Hatay town of Samandag when they felt Monday’s temblor.

“It shook a little, then it grew strong,” he said. “The electricity went and there were screams everywhere. There were small children in the house. They were screaming, my aunt was crying.”

On Feb. 6, Capar rushed to try to help his cousin, the cousin’s wife and the couple’s small children out of the rubble of their collapsed home, but they did not survive.

“We had barely overcome the sadness (from the first earthquake),” he said.

While his large family’s home withstood the quake earlier in the month, it was damaged on Monday. Capar said they are too frightened to sleep there and plan to stay in a large tent and cars.

“We are trying to stay strong but it is a terrifying process. The cities we knew, the memories we had, have been destroyed,” he said. “When we go in the streets, there is only rubble and heavy machinery. It’s like a horror movie scene.”

Turkish officials warned residents not to go into the remains of their homes, but people have done so to retrieve what they can. Three of the people killed Monday were inside a damaged four-story building when the new quake hit.

Aftershocks and the instability of the structure complicated the rescue effort, and it took several hours for search crews to find the bodies, Turkish news agency DHA said.

Dr. Tahsin Cinar, an anesthesiologist using vacation time to help provide medical care in Hatay as a representative of the Turkish Medical Association, said earthquake survivors need serious help with their mental health.

“They feel so alone, so deserted and very anxious. Even a small tremor leads to a big anxious reaction,” he said.

Cinar and other volunteers initially provided emergency care for people with physical injuries. Now, they are seeing more signs of psychological trauma, depression and the stress that comes with a lack of safe housing, winter weather and a pause in education.

“There is nearly nothing to create social well-being,” he said.

After the first earthquake, student Ada Yildirim boarded a bus to go help in Hatay province, where her family lives. On Monday, she was alone in an apartment in the Reyhanli district, near the Syrian border, when “everything started to shake really fast.”

“The earthquake was really bad, really bad,” she said.

A group of people with children spent the night outside, some in their cars. Yildirim said they had been waiting for tents for three days but now needed them even more urgently.

“If we can’t stay at home, what are we supposed to do?” she said.

Some 13.5 million people live in Turkey’s 11 quake-hit provinces. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 865,000 people were living in tents as of Tuesday. Some 270 tent cities have been set up in the affected provinces, and winter weather added to the suffering of displaced citizens.

Umit Ozalp, who has lived in the city of Antakya for 40 years, was preparing to leave, joining others carrying just a few small bags at a bus station.

“We have nothing left. Our home, our homeland, our children. We lost our work. Our situation is painful,” Ozalp said.

Kenan Caglar, a bus company employee, said the company was transporting at least 2,000 passengers a day, most bound for Istanbul or the Mediterranean cities of Antalya and Mersin.

The majority of deaths in the massive Feb. 6 quake, which was followed by a magnitude 7.5 temblor nine hours later, were in Turkey, where at least 42,310 people died, according to the disaster management agency.

Authorities said more than 110,000 buildings across the 11 Turkish provinces were either destroyed or so severely damaged that they need to be torn down.

Turkey’s defense minister said about 20,000 Syrians living in Turkey had returned to Syria after the quakes.

“They are returning to their lands because they lost their homes and their relatives,” Hulusi Akar said from Hatay on Tuesday.

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Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.

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February 21, 2023
Ruins of Turkish city of Antakya tell story of a rich past

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ANTAKYA, Turkey — For nearly two weeks, Mehmet Ismet has lived in the ruins of Antakya’s most beloved historic mosque, a landmark in a now-devastated city that was famed for thousands of years as a meeting place of civilizations and revered by Christians, Muslims and Jews.

The 74-year-old took refuge in the Habib Najjar mosque after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed tens of thousands in Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6. He has slept and prayed under the few arches still standing, mourning the future of a city renowned for its past.

The destruction in Antakya was nearly total. Much of the city is rubble. What’s still standing is too unsafe to live in. Almost everyone has left. On Monday, a new 6.4 magnitude earthquake, centered in Hatay province where Antakya is located, struck again, killing people, injuring more than 200 and causing more buildings to collapse, in some cases trapping people.

“It can be rebuilt. But it will not be like the old one,” said Ismet, pointing to the destruction of the mosque, where he sat in the courtyard with a friend by a wood-burning heater. “The old is gone. Only the name remains.”

Antakya, known as Antioch in ancient times, has been repeatedly destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt over history. But residents fear it will be a long time before it recovers from this one, and that its unique historical identity may never be fully restored. The destruction is so great, and they say the government cares little for this area.

Antioch, built in 300 B.C. by a general of Alexander the Great in the Orontes River valley, was one of the biggest cities of the Greco-Roman world, rivaling Alexandria and Constantinople. Saints Peter and Paul are said to have founded one of the oldest Christian communities here, and it’s here that the word “Christian” first came into use. It later drew Muslim and Christian Crusader invaders.

The melding of faiths is part of the city’s character.

A parable from the Quran kept running through Ismet’s mind. Three messengers from God came to a town, urging its sinful people to follow His word. They refused, and God destroyed the city with a mighty blast. The Quran doesn’t name the town, but many traditions say it was ancient Antioch.

Ismet saw a new lesson from the present-day devastation.

“All religions are here. We were living well. Then politics and hypocrisy prevailed, and disagreement followed,” Ismet said. “People… have disagreed and are robbing each other. God is punishing them.”

The mosque can now be reached only by clambering over heaps of concrete and old stones that were once Antakya’s old city. It traces Antakya’s many histories: The site originally held an ancient pagan temple, then a church, before finally settling as a mosque, built in the 13th century. The mosque was destroyed in an earthquake in 1853 and rebuilt four years later by the Ottomans.

Even the legends surrounding Habib Najjar, the mosque’s unknown namesake, are intertwined with multiple faiths.

Ismet recounted one popular story: Najjar was a resident of Antioch who urged locals to believe God’s messengers referred to in the Quran. They beheaded him, and his head rolled down the mountain to the spot where the mosque now stands. Another version of the legend says Najjar was a believer in Jesus, whose disciples cured his son of leprosy, and was killed for promoting the new Christian faith.

Modern Antakya was already a shadow of its ancient self.

In recent years, it witnessed steep economic decline and growing emigration to Europe and the Gulf. Tension had been growing between the shrinking local population, which included Christian and Alevi communities, and a growing Syrian population that fled its country’s civil war.

Some city residents complain of neglect from a central government busy with helping other provinces where it has a stronger voting base. With little evidence, locals accused Syrian refugees of stealing from stores and the government of downplaying the death toll. Many worry more people could leave if Antakya is not rebuilt quickly.

In the face of rising criticism from several quake-hit cities, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials have recognized delays in the response. No one addressed Antakya’s woes in particular.

“Maybe in one month, we will start the renovation or organization,” Yahya Coskun, deputy director general of Turkey’s museums and cultural heritage, said about the destruction to the city’s landmarks.

“Antakya’s destruction is a loss to humanity,” said Jan Estefan, a silversmith and one of the city’s few remaining Christians. “We still want to live here. We have no intention of leaving.”

Antakya’s Greek Orthodox Church was destroyed. The church, which was the seat of the Greek Orthodox patriarch up until the 14th century, was leveled in an 1872 earthquake and rebuilt.

“History has once again been wiped out,” said Fadi Hurigil, chairman of the board of directors of Antakya Greek Orthodox Church Foundation.

Old mosques were cut off by mountains of rubble. The old bazaar lay in ruins. Crushed buildings line Kurtulus Street, said to have been the world’s first illuminated street when it was lit with torches at night in Roman times. Parts of the archaeological museum have been damaged.

Outside the city center, Mount Starius protected one of Christianity’s earliest churches — St. Pierre — which is built in a cave in the mountain and has sections dating to the 4th century. A set of stairs leading to it was damaged.

There were cracks in the walls of the Synagogue of Antakya, home to the area’s 2,500-year-old Jewish community. The president of the city’s Jewish community and his wife didn’t survive. About a dozen Jewish residents and the synagogue’s Torah scrolls were temporarily relocated to Istanbul, said Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States.

Chitrik said it will hard for the small, elderly community, whittled down by years of emigration, to rebuild. “However, I am certain that it will come back.”

Many residents seem to have accepted it is their city’s fate to return from disaster.

“After seven times, they rebuilt and brought it to life again. Now is the eighth time, and God willing … we will live in it again,” said Bulent Cifcifli. His mother was killed in the quake, and it took a week to dig her body out.

In one shape or another, Antakya will survive, he said.

“Death is unavoidable. We will die and new people will come,” he said, choking on tears. “Who is Antakya? Today it is us. Tomorrow someone else.”

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February 21, 2023
New 6.4 magnitude earthquake hits Turkey’s Hatay province devastated by massive tremor 2 weeks ago

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New 6.4 magnitude earthquake hits Turkey’s Hatay province devastated by massive tremor 2 weeks ago

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February 20, 2023
Body of Ghana soccer player Atsu repatriated from Turkey

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ACCRA, Ghana — The body of Ghana soccer player Christian Atsu, who was found dead in his collapsed apartment building in the Turkey earthquake, has been repatriated.

Atsu’s remains arrived in the Ghanaian capital of Accra late Sunday, said Ghana Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who led a government delegation to receive the body. Atsu’s body was carried home in a casket on a Turkish Airlines plane and was accompanied by members of his family and the Ghana ambassador to Turkey, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

“This loss is a very painful one and this is a sad day for Ghana,” Bawumia said. “We all prayed and prayed, we hoped against hope for every day that passed, but God knows best.”

Atsu’s body was found in the rubble of a luxury 12-story building in the southern Turkish city of Antakya on Saturday, nearly two weeks after the devastating earthquake that has left more than 44,000 people dead in Turkey and neighboring Syria.

Reports emerged a day after the earthquake that Atsu had been rescued from the rubble, was alive and had been sent to the hospital, but they were mistaken.

The 31-year-old Atsu, who played for Premier League teams Chelsea and Newcastle, had joined Turkish club Hatayspor last year and scored the winning goal in a league game on Feb. 5, hours before the devastating earthquake struck in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 6.

Hatayspor sporting director Taner Savut also lived in the same apartment building and was reported missing at the same time as Atsu. Savut has still not been found.

Bawumia promised that Atsu would be given a fitting funeral and said his death was a blow for the people of Ghana. Atsu played more than 60 times for his country after making his debut at the age of 20 in 2012.

Atsu was also remembered with moments of silence and other tributes at soccer games in England and elsewhere this weekend. At his former club Newcastle, fans held up placards with his photo. An image of him was put up on a big screen at Chelsea’s game against Southampton before kickoff.

Ghana midfielder Mohammed Kudus had “R.I.P Atsu” written on a white T-shirt under his team shirt and revealed the message after scoring a goal for Dutch club Ajax in a game on Sunday.

The Ghanaian soccer association ordered moments of silence to be observed at every professional game in the West African country on Saturday in honor of Atsu.

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February 20, 2023
Key developments in the aftermath of the Turkey, Syria quake

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ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is paying his second visit to provinces devastated by the Feb. 6 earthquake as search and rescue efforts for buried survivors in the worst disaster in modern Turkish history are winding down.

Here’s a look at the key developments Monday in the quake’s aftermath:

DEATH TOLL APPROACHES 45,000

The Turkish disaster management agency, AFAD, has raised the number of confirmed fatalities from the earthquake in Turkey to 41,156. That increases the overall death toll in both Turkey and Syria to 44,844.

Search and rescue operations for survivors have been called off in most of the quake zone, but AFAD chief Yunus Sezer told reporters that search teams were pressing ahead with their efforts in more than a dozen collapsed buildings — most of them in the hardest-hit province of Hatay.

There were no signs of anyone being alive under the rubble since three members of one family — a mother, father and 12-year-old boy — were extracted from a collapsed building in Hatay on Saturday. The boy later died.

EU SEES RISK OF DISEASE OUTBREAK

The European Union’s health agency has warned of the risk of disease outbreaks in the coming weeks.

The Centre for Disease Prevention and Controls said that “food and water-borne diseases, respiratory infections and vaccine-preventable infections are a risk in the upcoming period, with the potential to cause outbreaks, particularly as survivors are moving to temporary shelters.”

“A surge of cholera cases in the affected areas is a significant possibility in the coming weeks,” it said, noting that authorities in northwestern Syria have reported thousands of cases of the disease since last September and a planned vaccination campaign was delayed due to the quake.

The ECDC also warned of viral infections such as hepatitis A, parasites and bacterial infections that can all be spread by difficult hygiene conditions in emergency shelters and camps.

SYRIA CALLS FOR TEMPORARY HOUSING UNITS

Syria’s minister of public works and housing, Suhail Abdul Latif, says the Syrian government will secure 350 housing units for people displaced by the earthquake and made a call for “friendly countries” to send more.

“We will secure the affected people within our capabilities, but after a while, it is not possible to continue placing families in shelters in order to preserve their health,” he said.

Housing has been a pressing need in all the earthquake-hit areas, with many families sleeping in makeshift tents or cramming into crowded schools and sports stadiums.

ERDOGAN SAYS RECONSTRUCTION TO START IN MARCH

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who faces elections in May or June, says his country will start building tens of thousands of new homes as early as next month.

Erdogan said the new buildings will be no taller than three or four stories, built on firmer ground and to higher standards and in consultation with “geophysics, geotechnical, geology and seismology professors” and other experts.

“We want to avoid disasters … by shifting our settlements away from the lowlands to the (more solid) mountains as much as possible,” Erdogan said in a televized address during a visit to hard-hit Hatay province.

The Turkish leader said destroyed cultural monuments would be rebuilt in accordance with their to “historic and cultural texture.”

Erdogan said around 1.6 million people are currently being housed in temporary shelters.

BLINKEN PRAISES AMERICANS’ RESPONSE

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has praised the support provided by Americans following the earthquake.

Blinken said in Ankara that the U.S. government had responded “within hours” to the disaster and had so far sent hundreds of personnel and relief supplies. But he said that ordinary Americans had also responded to “heartbreaking” images from the quake zone.

“We have nearly $80 million in donations from the private sector in the United States, (from) individuals. When I visited the Turkish Embassy in Washington, I almost couldn’t get in the front door because boxes were piled high throughout the driveway to the embassy,” Blinken said.

NATO SENDS CONTAINER HOMES

NATO says a ship carrying 600 temporary container homes has left Italy and is expected to arrive in Turkey next week.

The military alliance has pledged to send more than 1,000 containers that will serve as temporary shelters for at least 4,000 people left homeless by the earthquake.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, who visited the quake-devastated region last week, called it the worst disaster in the alliance’s history.

Authorities say more than 110,000 buildings across 11 quake-hit Turkish provinces were either destroyed or so severely damaged that they need to be torn down.

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February 20, 2023
Blinken praises Americans’ response to Turkey earthquake

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ANKARA, Turkey — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday praised the support provided by Americans following the devastating Feb. 6 earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria.

In a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara, Blinken said the U.S. government had responded “within hours” to the disaster and had so far sent hundreds of personnel and relief supplies.

But he said that ordinary Americans had also responded to “heartbreaking” images from the quake zone, where nearly 45,000 people have died.

“We have nearly $80 million in donations from the private sector in the United States, (from) individuals. When I visited the Turkish Embassy in Washington, I almost couldn’t get in the front door because boxes were piled high throughout the driveway to the embassy,” Blinken said.

“Turkey faces a long road ahead to support those rendered homeless and to rebuild … and we’re committed to providing support.”

Cavusoglu welcomed U.S. support in the aftermath of the 7.8 magnitude quake.

“I would like to thank them for not leaving us alone during these challenging times,” he said.

Blinken also commented on reports that China is considering military support for Russia in its war in Ukraine.

“We are concerned that China is considering supporting Russia’s war effort in Ukraine with lethal assistance, something that we are watching very, very closely,” he said.

Reiterating that there would be “real consequences… were China to provide lethal assistance to Russia” or help Moscow evade sanctions in a “systematic way,” he said there was a “real concern that China is considering doing just that.”

While not explaining these consequences, Blinken added that other countries, not just the U.S., would take similar action.

Blinken is making his first trip to NATO ally Turkey since he was appointed two years ago. On Sunday, he took a helicopter tour with Cavusoglu of Hatay, one of the provinces worst hit by the earthquake.

“It’s hard to put into words,” Blinken said Monday. “Countless buildings, communities, streets, damaged or fully destroyed.”

He also met with U.S. and Turkish military personnel and aid workers at Incirlik Air Base near Adana. They have been working to provide vital aid and assistance to the disaster zone. Blinken promised a further $100 million in aid to help Turkey and Syria. President Joe Biden announced $85 million for Turkey and Syria days after the earthquake.

Incirlik, home to the U.S. Air Force’s 39th Air Base Wing, has been a crucial logistics center for aid distribution. Supplies from around the world have been flown into the base and sent by truck and helicopter to those in need, including in difficult to reach villages.

Describing his meeting with U.S. aid officials and military at base base, as well as search and rescue teams “from Los Angeles to Fairfax County in Virginia,” Blinken added: “All of them have seen the staggering toll of this catastrophe. All of them are committed to being there for our friends in this moment.”

Blinken is scheduled to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later Monday. As well as the effects of the earthquake, they are expected to discuss the bids to join NATO by Sweden and Finland that Turkey has delayed, and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

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Andrew Wilks reported from Istanbul.

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February 20, 2023
Key developments in the aftermath of the Turkey, Syria quake

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ISTANBUL — As the search and rescue effort for buried survivors of the Feb. 6 earthquake started to wind down in Turkey, demolition teams have moved in to clear the mounds of rubble left by the worst disaster in modern Turkish history.

Here’s a look at the key developments Sunday from the aftermath of the earthquake.

DEATH TOLL IN TURKEY RISES ONLY SLIGHTLY

The number of confirmed deaths in Turkey due to the earthquake has risen to 40,689, Yunus Sezer, head of the country’s disaster agency AFAD, said. The increase was 47 more than the figure given on Saturday evening and a much smaller increase then previous updates.

Sezer told journalists in Ankara that search and rescue work in nine of the 11 provinces hit by the quake had ended. Rescue operation are ongoing in Kahramanmaras, the site of the epicenter, and Hatay, one of the hardest-hit provinces. “We continue these efforts every day with the hope of reaching a living brother or sister,” he said.

While rescue operations continue in the two provinces, there have been no signs of anyone being dug from the rubble alive since three members of one family — a mother, father and 12-year-old boy — were extracted from a collapsed building in Hatay on Saturday. The boy later died.

The new figure takes the combined death toll in Turkey and Syria to 44,377. The U.N. has said the full scope of the deaths in Syria may take time to determine.

MORE THAN 6,000 AFTERSHOCKS

Turkey’s disaster management said some 6,040 aftershocks hit the 11 provinces that form the disaster zone declared by the government in the days following the initial quake.

The initial quake was measured with a magnitude of 7.8, and was followed nine hours later by a 7,5 magnitude tremor.

Orhan Tatar, general manager of the agency, AFAD, said 40 aftershocks were of a 5 to 6 magnitude, while one was recorded at 6.6.

“It is extremely important to stay away from damaged buildings and not enter them,” he told a televised news briefing in Ankara.

He also warned of “secondary disasters” such as landslides and rockfalls.

INSPECTIONS FIND OVER 100,000 BADLY DAMAGED BUILDINGS

Some 105,794 buildings checked by Turkey’s Environment and Urbanization Ministry are either destroyed or so badly damaged as to require demolition, the ministry said Sunday.

Of these, 20,662 had collapsed, the statement said. The damaged or destroyed buildings contained more than 384,500 units, mostly residential apartments.

The figures were for Turkey and did not cover collapsed and damaged buildings in neighboring Syria.

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February 19, 2023
Syrian state media: Israeli airstrikes kill 5 in Damascus

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BEIRUT — Israeli airstrikes targeted a residential neighborhood in the Syrian capital of Damascus early Sunday, killing at least five people and wounding 15, Syrian state news reported.

Loud explosions were heard over a central area of the capital around 12:30 a.m. local time, and SANA reported that Syrian air defenses were “confronting hostile targets in the sky around Damascus.”

Syrian state media agency SANA, citing a military source, reported that five people had been killed, among them a soldier, and 15 civilians wounded, along with “destruction of a number of residential buildings.” The news agency also reported that the strikes had damaged buildings connected to a medieval citadel in central Damascus and an applied arts institute housed there.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, reported that 15 people, including a woman, were killed in strikes targeting sites connected with Iranian militias and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. They took place in the Damascus countryside and on an Iranian school in the neighborhood of Kafr Sousa in the capital, it said.

Samer Abdo, an engineer living in an apartment building that was struck in Kafr Sousa on an upscale residential street, was picking through shattered glass and broken wood in his apartment Sunday morning. Abdo told The Associated Press that his family had woken up in terror to the building shaking.

“We thought at first that it was an earthquake like the one that happened two weeks ago,” he said.

Mohamad Dulo, another resident of the neighborhood, said, “All the windows fell into the street, and people ran down to the streets as well.”

Dulo said he did not understand why the area was targeted. “It’s a residential area,” he said. “There is nothing (military) here.”

Director General of Antiquities and Museums Mohamad Awad told the AP that the damaged buildings around the Damascus Citadel were arts and heritage institutes, as well as the offices for managing the citadel.

“It’s without a doubt that it will cost a lot to rebuild or restore some of the buildings that were destroyed in the attack,” Awad said, adding that the strike destroyed “rare and expensive” equipment and machinery that has been hard to obtain due to sanctions and the country’s economic crisis.

There was no immediate statement from Israel on the attack. A spokesperson for the Israeli military declined to comment.

An official with an Iran-backed group denied media reports that the strike on Kafr Sousa targeted Iranian or Palestinian officials.

The strike hit a parking garage under a building and killed 10 civilians and troops all of them Syrians, he said. He denied that there had been any Iranians or Hezbollah members killed.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Israeli airstrikes frequently target sites in the vicinity of Damascus, but it is rare for them to target residential areas in the city. The Saturday night strikes were the first since a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6.

Syria’s foreign ministry condemned the attack, coming “at a time when Syria was healing its wounds, burying its martyrs, and receiving condolences, sympathy, and international humanitarian support in the face of the devastating earthquake.” It called on the United Nations Security Council to condemn it.

Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency Sunday said no Iranian nationals were harmed in Israel’s strike on Damascus. It said one of the rockets hit the same place where former Hezbollah commander Imad Moghnieh was killed in 2008.

The last reported attack on Damascus was on Jan. 2, when the Syrian army reported that Israel’s military fired missiles toward the international airport of Syria’s capital early Monday, putting it out of service and killing two soldiers and wounding two others.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations.

Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

The Israeli strikes come amid a wider shadow war between Israel and Iran. The attacks on airports in Damascus and Aleppo were over fears they were being used to funnel Iranian weaponry into the country.

While he did not directly mention the strikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of his Cabinet on Sunday that Israel would continue to defend itself from what it sees as Iran’s aggression.

“Iran’s attacks will not discourage us. We will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons and we will not allow it to entrench itself along our northern borders. We are doing everything and we will do everything to protect our citizens and we respond with intensity to the attacks against us,” he said.

___

Associated Press journalists Abdelrahman Shaheen in Damascus, Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

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February 19, 2023
Syrian state media: Israeli airstrikes kill 5 in Damascus

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DAMASCUS — Israeli airstrikes targeted a residential neighborhood in the Syrian capital of Damascus early Sunday, killing at least five people and wounding 15, Syrian state news reported.

Loud explosions were heard over a central area of the capital around 12:30 a.m. local time, and SANA reported that Syrian air defenses were “confronting hostile targets in the sky around Damascus.”

Syrian state media agency SANA, citing a military source, reported that five people had been killed, among them a soldier, and 15 civilians wounded, along with “destruction of a number of residential buildings.” The news agency also reported that the strikes had damaged a medieval citadel in central Damascus and an applied arts institute housed there.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, reported that 15 people, including a woman, were killed in strikes targeting sites connected with Iranian militias and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. They took place in the Damascus countryside and on an Iranian school in the neighborhood of Kafr Sousa in the capital, it said.

Samer Abdo, an engineer living in an apartment building that was struck in Kafr Sousa on an upscale residential street, was picking through shattered glass and broken wood in his apartment Sunday morning. Abdo told The Associated Press that his family had woken up in terror to the building shaking.

“We thought at first that it was an earthquake like the one that happened two weeks ago,” he said.

Mohamad Dulo, another resident of the neighborhood, said, “All the windows fell into the street, and people ran down to the streets as well.”

Dulo said he did not understand why the area was targeted. “It’s a residential area,” he said. “There is nothing (military) here.”

There was no immediate statement from Israel on the attack. A spokesperson for the Israeli military declined to comment.

Israeli airstrikes frequently target sites in the vicinity of Damascus, but it is rare for them to target residential areas in the city. The Saturday night strikes were the first since a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6.

The last reported attack on Damascus was on Jan. 2, when the Syrian army reported that Israel’s military fired missiles toward the international airport of Syria’s capital early Monday, putting it out of service and killing two soldiers and wounding two others.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations.

Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

The Israeli strikes come amid a wider shadow war between Israel and Iran. The attacks on airports in Damascus and Aleppo were over fears they were being used to funnel Iranian weaponry into the country.

While he did not directly mention the strikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of his Cabinet on Sunday that Israel would continue to defend itself from what it sees as Iran’s aggression.

“Iran’s attacks will not discourage us. We will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons and we will not allow it to entrench itself along our northern borders. We are doing everything and we will do everything to protect our citizens and we respond with intensity to the attacks against us,” he said.

___

Associated Press journalists Abdelrahman Shaheen in Damascus and Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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February 19, 2023
Syrian state media: Israel airstrikes kill 5 in Damascus

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DAMASCUS — Israeli airstrikes targeted a residential neighborhood in central Damascus early Sunday, Syrian state news reported.

Loud explosions were heard over the capital around 12:30 a.m. local time, and SANA reported that Syrian air defenses were “confronting hostile targets in the sky around Damascus.”

Syrian state media agency SANA, citing a military source, reported that five people had been killed, among them a soldier, and 15 civilians wounded, along with “destruction of a number of residential buildings.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported that 15 people, including a woman, were killed in strikes targeting sites connected with Iranian militias and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the Damascus countryside and on an Iranian school in the neighborhood of Kafr Sousa in the capital.

There was no immediate statement from Israel on the attack. Israeli airstrikes frequently target sites in the vicinity of Damascus. The Saturday night strikes were the first since a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6.

The last reported attack on Damascus was on Jan. 2, when the Syrian army reported that Israel’s military fired missiles toward the international airport of Syria’s capital early Monday, putting it out of service and killing two soldiers and wounding two others.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations.

Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

The Israeli strikes come amid a wider shadow war between Israel and Iran. The attacks on airports in Damascus and Aleppo were over fears they were being used to funnel Iranian weaponry into the country.

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February 18, 2023
Syrian state media: Israel airstrikes kill 5 in Damascus

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DAMASCUS — Israeli airstrikes targeted a residential neighborhood in central Damascus early Sunday, Syrian state news reported.

Loud explosions were heard over the capital around 12:30 a.m. local time, and SANA reported that Syrian air defenses were “confronting hostile targets in the sky around Damascus.”

Syrian state media agency SANA, citing a military source, reported that five people had been killed, among them a soldier, and 15 civilians wounded, along with “destruction of a number of residential buildings.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported that 15 people, including a woman, were killed in strikes targeting sites connected with Iranian militias and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the Damascus countryside and on an Iranian school in the neighborhood of Kafr Sousa in the capital.

There was no immediate statement from Israel on the attack. Israeli airstrikes frequently target sites in the vicinity of Damascus. The Saturday night strikes were the first since a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6.

The last reported attack on Damascus was on Jan. 2, when the Syrian army reported that Israel’s military fired missiles toward the international airport of Syria’s capital early Monday, putting it out of service and killing two soldiers and wounding two others.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations.

Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

The Israeli strikes come amid a wider shadow war between Israel and Iran. The attacks on airports in Damascus and Aleppo were over fears they were being used to funnel Iranian weaponry into the country.

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February 18, 2023
Turkey: Couple saved 296 hours after quake, but children die

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ISTANBUL — A couple and their son were pulled alive from under a collapsed apartment building more than 12 days after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake ravaged parts of Turkey and Syria, although the child later died at a hospital, Turkish state media reported Saturday.

A foreign search team from Kyrgyzstan rescued Samir Muhammed Accar, 49, his wife, Ragda, 40, and their 12-year-old son while digging through the rubble of the apartment building in the southern Turkish city of Antakya, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

They were removed at about 11:30 a.m. local time (8:30 GMT), or 296 hours after the Feb. 6 quake, and quickly transferred to ambulances. TV footage showing medics fixing an IV drip to the man’s arm as he lay on a stretcher.

One of the Kyrgyz rescuers said the team also found the bodies of two dead children. Anadolu later reported they also were the children of Samir Muhammad and Ragda Accar.

During a visit to Antakya, the capital of Hatay province, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the father was conscious and being treated at Mustafa Kemal University Hospital. Anadolu published photos showing American TV personality and former U.S. Senate candidate Mehmet Oz visiting the recovering man.

Reporting on their conversation, Anadolu said Samir Muhammed Accar described how he survived the ordeal by drinking his own urine. He also told Dr. Oz that his children responded to his voice for the first two or three days but he heard nothing from after that.

Hatay province, where Antakya is located, was one of areas hit hardest by the earthquake, which killed at least 40,642 people in Turkey and 3,688 in Syria.

Search and rescue operations are continuing in Turkey, although the head of the country’s disaster response agency said they would end on Sunday.

___

Follow AP’s earthquake coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/earthquakes

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February 18, 2023
Ghana soccer player Christian Atsu dies in Turkey earthquake

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Christian Atsu, the Ghana international forward who played for Premier League clubs Chelsea and Newcastle, has died in the earthquake in Turkey. He was 31.

Search teams recovered Atsu’s body in the ruins of a luxury 12-story building where he had been living in the city of Antakya, Hatay province, his manager said Saturday.

“Atsu’s lifeless body was found under the rubble. At the moment, his belongings are still being removed,” manager Murat Uzunmehmet told private news agency DHA.

Atsu joined Turkish club Hatayspor in September and scored the winning goal for his new team in a league game at home against Kasimpaşa S.K. on Feb. 5, just hours before the earthquake struck in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 6.

Antakya, the city where Hatayspor is based, is in the southern region of Turkey hardest hit by the earthquake.

The death toll from the 7.8-magnitude quake in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria passed 43,000 on Friday.

Hatayspor said Atsu’s body was being repatriated to Ghana. “There are no words to describe our sadness,” the club tweeted.

A day after the earthquake there were reports that Atsu had been rescued but Hatayspor, after initially announcing that it had received information that Atsu was alive and on his way to the hospital, said later that the reports of a successful rescue were, heartbreakingly, mistaken and the player was still missing. It had also said the club’s sporting director, Taner Savut, was still missing. Savut has not yet been found.

The contractor of the 12-story Ronesans Rezidans building — where Atsu and Savut lived — was detained at Istanbul Airport a week ago, apparently trying to leave the country.

Atsu’s agent, Nana Sechere, traveled to Turkey with members of Atsu’s family in an attempt to find him, holding onto hopes that he might be alive amid the wreckage. Sechere had urged authorities and Hatayspor officials to step up their efforts in the search for Atsu and Savut.

In a statement Tuesday, Sechere said rescuers had been able to pinpoint Atsu’s exact room location in his collapsed apartment building over a week after the devastating earthquake but the only thing they recovered were two pairs of his shoes.

Sechere confirmed Saturday that Atsu’s body was found. He posted a message on Twitter: “My deepest condolences go to his family and loved ones.”

Atsu played more than 60 times for Ghana and scored on his debut as a 20-year-old in 2012. He was part of the Ghana squad at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and starred at the 2015 African Cup of Nations, scoring two goals to help Ghana to the final, where it lost in a penalty shootout to Ivory Coast.

He was named the player of the tournament at that African Cup.

Atsu was signed by Chelsea in 2013 but his time there was limited to appearances in exhibition games and he was sent out on loan to various clubs over the next four years. The winger joined Newcastle on loan in 2016 and was part of the team that won promotion back to the Premier League in the 2016-17 season.

He signed a permanent deal with Newcastle in 2017 and spent four years there. The club said Saturday it was “profoundly saddened” by Atsu’s death.

“A talented player and a special person, he will always be fondly remembered by our players, staff and supporters,” Newcastle tweeted.

The Ghana Football Association added: “We would like to express our deepest condolences to his wife and children, the family, loved ones and the football community.”

Atsu joined Hatayspor last year after a short spell playing in Saudi Arabia.

Ibrahim Kwarteng, a friend of Atsu’s in Ghana, told The Associated Press in a recent interview that he knew the player as someone who helped people in his West African home country as much as he could.

Kwarteng runs an organization that helps people convicted of petty crimes get jobs and put their lives back together after being released from jail and Atsu was its single biggest donor, Kwarteng said. Atsu had also started building an orphanage in Ghana and was helping to fund a new breast cancer screening center, Kwarteng said.

___

Associated Press writer Francis Kokutse in Accra, Ghana, contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP’s earthquake coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/earthquakes

__

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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February 18, 2023
AP Week in Pictures: Europe and Africa

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ByThe Associated Press

February 17, 2023, 3:07 AM

FEB. 10-16, 2023

A week in which earthquake survivors in Turkey and Syria mourned their loved ones, more funerals were held for Ukrainian soldiers and the Alpine World Ski championships continued in the French alps. This photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or published in the week by The Associated Press from Europe and Africa.

The selection was curated by Milan-based photographer Luca Bruno.

Follow AP visual journalism:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apnews

AP Images on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Images

AP Images blog: http://apimagesblog.com

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February 17, 2023
Red Cross chief warns of health crisis in quake-hit Syria

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BEIRUT — Syria could face dangerous outbreaks of disease in the wake of last week’s devastating earthquake if hundreds of thousands of displaced people do not get permanent housing soon, the Red Cross’ global chief said Thursday, as Syrians struggle to receive humanitarian aid amid the mounting crisis.

Jagan Chapagain, who is Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said families staying in makeshift shelters without adequate heating urgently need permanent housing.

“They are still living in very basic conditions in very, very cold school rooms,” he told The Associated Press in an interview. “If this continues for a long period of time, then there will be health consequences.”

He spoke after returning from Aleppo, Syria’s largest city that for years witnessed some of the worst fighting of the country’s ongoing civil war.

Aleppo was hit with a cholera outbreak in late 2022. The earthquake’s impact on access to housing, water, fuel, and other infrastructure could make another outbreak “possible,” he said, adding that the disaster also has been ruinous for Syrians’ mental health.

“If the conflict had broken their backs, I think this earthquake is breaking their spirit now,” Chapagain said.

The deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria over a week ago shattered parts of the war-torn country, both in the northwestern rebel-held enclave and nearby government-held areas. An estimated 3,688 people died on both sides of the frontline in Syria, about 1,400 of them in government-held cities and towns.

Entire neighborhoods of Aleppo have been abandoned, Chapagain added, with some residents opting to move to rural areas after the quake. Many Syrians were displaced for a second time following the natural disaster, already leaving their homes to escape the airstrikes and shelling.

The UNHCR estimated that 5.3 million Syrians across the earthquake-hit country could be homeless if viable shelter and aid is not secured.

In the long term, Chapagain said rebuilding Syria’s infrastructure, already crippled by the war, ought to be a priority. However, the civil war and economic crisis in Syria makes a swift post-earthquake recovery more complicated.

The IFRC has raised 200 million Swiss francs ($216.8 million) and hopes to support 2.4 million people across the country over the next two years. Dozens of planes and trucks loaded with humanitarian aid have reached government-held Syria. The U.N. appealed for $397 million to support almost 5 million people in rebel-held northwestern Syria, almost all living in poverty.

During his tour of Aleppo, Chapagain said that aid, which has decreased over the years, was now arriving in larger quantities.

One woman told him that she had suffered from the dwindling assistance in recent years but “in some way this earthquake brought back humanitarian assistance so (she) could eat food again,” he recalled.

Still, he said, major gaps in essential goods remain.

“Even some of the ambulances are struggling to get fuel, and even some of our own cars are struggling to get fuel,” said Chapagain.

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February 16, 2023
Key developments in the aftermath of Turkey, Syria quakes

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ANTAKYA, Turkey — The number of fatalities in the earthquake that devastated parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria is continuing to rise. As chances of finding more survivors have dwindled, some foreign search teams are beginning to leave.

Here’s a look at key developments Thursday from the aftermath of the earthquakes:

DEATH TOLL RISES

Turkey’s disaster management agency, AFAD, has raised the number of fatalities in Turkey from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria to 36,187. That pushed the combined death toll for Turkey and Syria to 39,875.

More than 108,000 people were injured in Turkey in the Feb. 6 quake as well as another strong tremor that it likely triggered hours later.

The death toll is certain to increase as search teams sifting through the rubble find more bodies.

SOME SEARCH TEAMS DEPART

Onlookers at Istanbul Airport clapped to display gratitude to a 27-member team of Greek rescuers who were heading back home after ending their mission to search for survivors in the hard-hit city of Adiyaman.

Team leader Ioannis Papastathis told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency late Wednesday that he was leaving Turkey with “unforgettable memories.”

“On the one hand, there was love and the warm welcome of the people, on the other hand, suffering. The destruction was huge. The weather was cold. These affected me a lot,” the agency quoted him as saying.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said close to 8,000 rescue and aid workers from 74 countries were still assisting Turkish teams in their efforts. Around 4,200 personnel from 15 countries have left, he said.

“I would like to thank each and every one of them,” Cavusoglu said during a joint news conference with his visiting counterpart from Costa Rica.

WORST DISASTER ON NATO TERRITORY

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has described the powerful earthquake that struck Turkey as the military alliance’s worst natural disaster.

“This is the deadliest natural disaster on alliance territory since the foundation of NATO,” Stoltenberg told reporters during a joint news conference with Cavusoglu in Ankara on Thursday. “We salute the courage of the Turkish first responders and we mourn with you.”

Stoltenberg, who is scheduled to visit the disaster area later, said the alliance had deployed thousands of emergency response personnel to support relief efforts.

“The focus going forward will be on reconstruction and supporting the displaced,” Stoltenberg said. He added that the alliance will be setting up temporary housing for thousands of people displaced by the quake while also using its airlifting capabilities to transport tens of thousands of tents.

Meanwhile, Stoltenberg, who is pressing Turkey to ratify Sweden and Finland’s membership in the alliance, stressed that the two Nordic countries were among countries showing solidarity with Turkey. Sweden, Stoltenberg added, would hold an international donor conference in March.

Turkey has been holding up the two countries’ membership in NATO, urging the two countries to crack down on groups Ankara considers to be national security threats.

___

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.

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February 16, 2023
Carolina Herrera finds royal drama, opulence at NYFW

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NEW YORK — Carolina Herrera is a brand synonymous with elegance and class and in this year’s fall/winter debut, the brand pushed the boundaries on high drama, romance and grandeur — while also showing restraint when necessary.

In the shimmering, grand Plaza Hotel ballroom in New York on Monday, creative director Wes Gordon debuted a collection inspired by themes of elegance and opulence.

The show opened with “I Say a Little Prayer for You,” and a whole slew of romantic songs served as a backdrop for the opening dress — a strapless structured satin black and white mini dress, signifying a regal and straightforward yet elevated look.

Gordon’s signature Herrera aesthetic was on display in a yellow tulle dress with a tiered skirt that bounced as the model strutted down the ballroom. Another look that bought drama and intrigue was yet again a tiered black and white tulle dress — some of the nylon tulle covered the model’s face, giving mystery to the look.

Some of the most gasp-worthy looks were inspired by Empress Elisabeth of Austria, recently given a modern edge in the film “Corsage.” One model wore a chunky pearl necklace with a buttoned-down black silk full-length dress featuring gold embroidery. Another look featured a square-necked Cinderella dress in lilac satin with a peek of black tulle and matching lilac pumps.

“I wanted to develop pieces that were emotional — fabrics that you wanted to touch and really challenge the mills that we work with to come up with something extraordinary,” Gordon said.

Celebrities in attendance at the show were Kelsea Ballerini, Rachel Zoe, Maddie Ziegler and Julianne Hough. Also in attendance at the front row was the creator of the brand, Carolina Herrera herself, and Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour.

Gordon delivered a multitude of looks that ranged from embroidered hot pink mini dresses to oversized color-blocked dresses with big peplums and chunky belts. The line also featured a plethora of floral and striped printed dresses — all playing with neckline silhouettes, sleeves and length.

The brightness of the colors in the show really was necessary to put the joy back into the world, Gordon said. The brand just recently pledged that it would match all donations given to the Red Cross through its Heart for Hope program until next week to aid in the aftermath of the earthquake that recently devastated Turkey and Syria.

“Even though we’ve been made numb almost by seeing a bombardment of just horrible things over the past decade, these are just beyond belief — so heartbreaking,” Gordon said. “It’s a moment that all of us around the world need to come together to do whatever we can to help.”

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February 13, 2023
UN says Syria agrees to open 2 new crossings for quake aid

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UNITED NATIONS — Syria’s president agreed to open two new crossing points from Turkey to the country’s rebel-held northwest to deliver desperately needed aid and equipment to help millions of earthquake victims, the United Nations announced Monday.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the agreement by Syrian leader Bashar Assad to open crossing points at Bab Al-Salam and Al Raée for an initial period of three months. Currently, the U.N. has only been allowed to deliver aid to the northwest Idlib area through a single crossing at Bab Al-Hawa, at Syrian ally Russia’s insistence.

The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus earlier Monday between Assad and U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, who spent the weekend viewing the devastation caused by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that ravaged southern Turkey and northwestern Syria.

Griffiths and the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, separately met with Syrian Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad. Pedersen had told reporters afterward that in dealing with the challenges of getting aid to the northwest, “we think that is now being corrected.”

Guterres’ official announcement came during a closed meeting of the U.N. Security Council where diplomats said Griffiths announced Assad’s agreement to open the two new crossings during a virtual briefing.

Syria’s U.N. ambassador, Bassam Sabbagh, told reporters while the meeting was taking place that Assad held a “positive and constructive meeting” with Griffiths and “confirmed the need for urgent aid to enter all regions in Syria, including those under occupation and under control of the armed terrorist groups.”

“Based on that, Syria supports the entry of humanitarian aid into the region through all possible cross points whatever — from inside Syria, or across the borders — for the period of three months to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to our people in … northwestern Syria,” Sabbagh said.

The United Nations has been under intense pressure to get more aid and heavy equipment into Syria’s rebel-held northwest since the earthquake struck a week ago, with survivors lacking the means to dig for survivors and the death toll mounting.

The toll in the northwestern rebel-held region has reached 2,166, according to the rescue group the White Helmets, while 1,414 people have died in government-held areas, according to the Syrian Health Ministry in Damascus. The overall death toll in Syria stands at 3,580.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric cited difficulties of operating during Syria’s 12-year war.

To criticism that the U.N. hadn’t responded quickly enough to the quake, he said some aid is getting into the northwest, pointing to 58 trucks that arrived with aid through the Bab Al-Hawa crossing.

But he stressed that the United Nations doesn’t have heavy equipment or search and rescue teams, “so the international community as a whole needs to step up to get that aid where it is needed.”

Guterres said in a statement that with the rising death toll “delivering food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, winter supplies and other life-saving supplies to all the millions of people affected is of the utmost urgency.”

“Opening these crossing points — along with facilitating humanitarian access, accelerating visa approvals and easing travel between hubs — will allow more aid to go in, faster,” the U.N. chief said.

In 2014, the Security Council authorized four border crossings to deliver aid to northwest Syria — two from Turkey, one from Jordan and one from Iraq. In January 2020, Syria’s close ally Russia used its veto threat to reduce the number of crossing to the two from Turkey. The following July, China and Russia used their veto power to reduce the number to just a single crossing.

France’s U.N. ambassador, Nicolas De Riviere, told reporters before Monday’s council meeting that the earthquake is “a humanitarian tragedy that should not be politicized.”

He said there were two options — either the Syrian government grant additional access to the northwest or the Security Council would try to adopt a resolution authorizing additional crossing points to the region.

Syria’s Sabbagh said later that no council resolution was needed, saying that “it’s a decision made by our leadership, and it’s an agreement between Syria and the United Nations.”

Asked why it took a week to get this agreement, when time to get to victims is critical, Sabbagh retorted: “Why are you asking me? We are not the ones controlling these borders.”

He reiterated that Syria said from day one that it was ready to assist humanitarian workers to reach all Syrians “without any discrimination.”

Dujarric, the U.N. spokesman, told reporters Monday that the U.N. has been trying to send a convoy to the northwest across conflict lines within Syria, but is still trying to get a green light from all parties. The convoy reportedly was blocked by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a rebel group with ties to al-Qaida that controls part of the northwest.

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February 13, 2023
Carolina Herrera finds royal drama, opulence at NYFW

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NEW YORK — Carolina Herrera is a brand synonymous with elegance and class and in this year’s fall/winter debut, the brand pushed the boundaries on high drama, romance and grandeur — while also showing restraint when necessary.

In the shimmering, grand Plaza Hotel ballroom in New York on Monday, creative director Wes Gordon debuted a collection inspired by themes of elegance and opulence.

The show opened with “I Say a Little Prayer for You,” and a whole slew of romantic songs served as a backdrop for the opening dress — a strapless structured satin black and white mini dress, signifying a regal and straightforward yet elevated look.

Gordon’s signature Herrera aesthetic was on display in a yellow tulle dress with a tiered skirt that bounced as the model strutted down the ballroom. Another look that bought drama and intrigue was yet again a tiered black and white tulle dress — some of the nylon tulle covered the model’s face, giving mystery to the look.

Some of the most gasp-worthy looks were inspired by Empress Elisabeth of Austria, recently given a modern edge in the film “Corsage.” One model wore a chunky pearl necklace with a buttoned-down black silk full-length dress featuring gold embroidery. Another look featured a square-necked Cinderella dress in lilac satin with a peek of black tulle and matching lilac pumps.

“I wanted to develop pieces that were emotional — fabrics that you wanted to touch and really challenge the mills that we work with to come up with something extraordinary,” Gordon said.

Celebrities in attendance at the show were Kelsea Ballerini, Rachel Zoe, Maddie Ziegler and Julianne Hough. Also in attendance at the front row was the creator of the brand, Carolina Herrera herself, and Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour.

Gordon delivered a multitude of looks that ranged from embroidered hot pink mini dresses to oversized color-blocked dresses with big peplums and chunky belts. The line also featured a plethora of floral and striped printed dresses — all playing with neckline silhouettes, sleeves and length.

The brightness of the colors in the show really was necessary to put the joy back into the world, Gordon said. The brand just recently pledged that it would match all donations given to the Red Cross through its Heart for Hope program until next week to aid in the aftermath of the earthquake that recently devastated Turkey and Syria.

“Even though we’ve been made numb almost by seeing a bombardment of just horrible things over the past decade, these are just beyond belief — so heartbreaking,” Gordon said. “It’s a moment that all of us around the world need to come together to do whatever we can to help.”

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February 13, 2023