Tag: 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake

Egypt’s president praises UAE, seeking to heal Gulf aid rift

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi offered effusive praise Monday for the United Arab Emirates, seeking to repair a rift between Cairo and the Gulf Arab states that have supplied billions of dollars in aid to his nation.

El-Sissi has relied on handouts from Gulf Arab states to keep his country’s economy afloat since seizing power in a 2013 coup, with estimates suggesting over $100 billion in Gulf money has gone to Cairo via Central Bank deposits, fuel aid and other support since then.

But in recent weeks, Gulf Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, have begun signaling that they want to see more reforms from countries receiving their aid — particularly as nations worldwide struggle with inflation and the fallout from Russia’s war on Ukraine. That likely would affect Egypt, which already is under pressure from the International Monetary Fund to reform.

“We used to give direct grants and deposits without strings attached and we are changing that,” Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. “We need to see reforms. We are taxing our people. We are expecting also others to do the same, to do their efforts. We want to help but we want you also to do your part.”

In Kuwait, at least one lawmaker has begun asking about the billions loaned to Egypt and whether any of those funds had been repaid. While leaders in the United Arab Emirates haven’t commented publicly on its aid packages, it too has its own development plans and is being asked to deliver aid to earthquake-stricken Turkey and Syria.

Earlier this month, an opinion piece in the Egyptian state-owned newspaper Al-Gomhorya argued that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states had no right to criticise the Egyptian government’s handling of its economy.

“Those barefoot and naked, who wore the most luxurious clothes recently, should not attack Egypt,” wrote editor Abdel Razek Tawfiq. “States whose age does not exceed the age of my youngest son do not have the right to talk about Egypt except with politeness, reverence and respect.”

The article later disappeared from the newspaper’s website, but a firestorm broke out online over the column.

El-Sissi spoke before the World Government Summit in Dubai at a session attended by both UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The Egyptian president began his remarks acknowledging the two rulers as his “brothers.”

El-Sissi, onstage at the summit for what was billed as an interview with a journalist, launched into a monologue praising the UAE and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed for his aid after the 2013 coup.

“The first to highlight is the support I have received from our brothers,” el-Sissi said. “Everything I said would not have been possible without the support we received.”

He didn’t directly address the controversy around the newspaper column, though toward the end of his remarks he referred elliptically to the dispute.

“Reality may be different from what we see in the media or what we hear from politicians … even when it’s politicians who think they are in control,” el-Sissi said. “Make sure to thank God for the generosity we have received.”

Anwar Gargash, a senior Emirati diplomat, tweeted after el-Sissi’s appearance: “Egypt, as usual, is loyal to its brothers and their stances. Appreciation for the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait was present in President Sissi’s speech.”

The Egyptian government has plans to sell stakes in dozens of state-controlled companies, including banks and energy firms. However, the government and the Egyptian military dominate the economy of the Arab world’s most-populous country, worrying investors.

Egypt meanwhile is allowing its Egyptian pound to devalue, with the currency down nearly 50% over the last year. The country also faces a foreign currency shortage exacerbating its woes and forcing it to postpone major projects.

El-Sissi, an army general, led the 2013 overthrow of then-President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. His government has cracked down on dissidents and critics, jailing tens of thousands, virtually banning protests and monitoring social media.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

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February 13, 2023
Turkey arrests building contractors 6 days after quakes

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ANTAKYA, Turkey — As rescuers still pulled a lucky few from the rubble six days after a pair of earthquakes devastated southeast Turkey and northern Syria, Turkish officials detained or issued arrest warrants for some 130 people allegedly involved in the construction of buildings that toppled down and crushed their occupants.

The death toll from Monday’s quakes stood at 28,191 — with another 80,000-plus injured — as of Sunday morning and was certain to rise as bodies kept emerging.

As despair also bred rage at the agonizingly slow rescue efforts, the focus turned to who was to blame for not better preparing people in the earthquake-prone region that includes an area of Syria that was already suffering from years of civil war.

Even though Turkey has, on paper, construction codes that meet current earthquake-engineering standards, they are too rarely enforced, explaining why thousands of buildings slumped onto their side or pancaked downward onto residents.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said late on Saturday that warrants have been issued for the detention of 131 people suspected to being responsible for collapsed buildings.

Turkey’s justice minister has vowed to punish anyone responsible, and prosecutors have begun gathering samples of buildings for evidence on materials used in constructions. The quakes were powerful, but victims, experts and people across Turkey are blaming bad construction for multiplying the devastation.

Authorities arrested two people in the province of Gaziantep on Sunday who are suspected of having cut down columns to make extra room in a building that collapsed, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.

A day earlier, Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced the planned establishment of “Earthquake Crimes Investigation” bureaus. The bureaus would aim to identify contractors and others responsible for building works, gather evidence, instruct experts including architects, geologists and engineers, and check building permits and occupation permits.

A building contractor was detained by authorities on Friday at Istanbul airport before he could board a flight out of the country. He was the contractor of a luxury 12-story building in the historic city of Antakya, in Hatay province, the collapse of which left an untold number of dead.

The detentions could help direct public anger toward builders and contractors, deflecting attention away from local and state officials who allowed the apparently sub-standard constructions to go ahead. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, already burdened by an economic downturn and high inflation, faces parliamentary and presidential elections in May.

Survivors, many of whom lost loved ones, have turned their frustration and anger also at authorities. Rescue crews have been overwhelmed by the widespread damage which has impacted roads and airports, making it even more difficult to race against the clock.

Erdogan acknowledged earlier in the week that the initial response has been hampered by the extensive damage. He said the worst-affected area was 500 kilometers (310 miles) in diameter and was home to 13.5 million people in Turkey. During a tour of quake-damaged cities Saturday, Erdogan said a disaster of this scope was rare, and again referred to it as the “disaster of the century.”

Rescuers, including crews from other countries, continued to probe the rubble in hope of finding additional survivors who could yet beat the increasingly long odds. Thermal cameras were used to probe the piles of concrete and metal, while rescuers demanded silence so that they could hear the voices of the trapped.

A 6-year-old boy was removed from the debris of his home in Adiyaman city on Sunday, 151 hours after the quake. The rescue was broadcast live by HaberTurk television, showing the child wrapped in a space blanket and put into an ambulance. An exhausted rescuer removed his surgical mask and took deep breaths as a group of women could be heard crying in joy.

Turkey’s health minister, Fahrettin Koca, posted a video of a young girl in a navy blue jumper who was rescued. “Good news at the 150th hour. Rescued a little while ago by crews. There is always hope!” he tweeted.

The efforts of a team of Italian and Turkish rescuers also paid off when they removed a 35-year-old man from the wreckage in the hard-hit city of Antakya. The man, Mustafa Sarigul, appeared to be unscathed as he was being transported on a stretcher to an ambulance, 149 hours after the first quakes, private NTV television reported.

Overnight, a child was also freed in the town of Nizip, in Gaziantep, state-run Anadolu Agency reported, while a 32-year woman, was rescued from the ruins of a eight-story building in the city of Antakya. The woman, a teacher named Meltem, asked for tea as soon as she emerged, according to NTV.

In Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter of the first 7.8 quake that struck early Monday morning, efforts were underway to reach a survivor detected by sniffer dogs beneath a now-pancaked seven-story building, NTV reported.

Those found alive, however, remained the rare exception.

A large makeshift graveyard was under construction in Antakya’s outskirts on Saturday. Backhoes and bulldozers dug pits in the field as trucks and ambulances loaded with black body bags arrived continuously. The hundreds of graves, spaced no more than 3 feet (a meter) apart, were marked with simple wooden planks set vertically in the ground.

The picture is less clear of the plight across the border in Syria.

The death toll in Syria’s northwestern rebel-held region has reached 2,166, according to the rescue worker group the White Helmets. The overall death toll in Syria stood at 3,553 on Saturday, though the 1,387 deaths reported for government-held parts of the country hadn’t been updated in days.

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

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Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara.

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February 12, 2023
Fundraisers for Syria, Turkey earthquake try to deliver aid

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NEW YORK — Humanitarian groups working in southern Turkey and northwest Syria warn that Monday’s earthquake will have a “long tail” — a wide range of needs that will require donations for months, or even years, after the rescue and recovery missions end.

Among the worst in recent history, the 7.8 magnitude earthquake has killed at least 23,200 in the region and left tens of thousands more homeless, with thousands taking refuge in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centers. Humanitarian access to northern Syria is complicated by the civil war, while sending funds can be blocked or slowed by U.S. sanctions, despite an exemption for relief efforts. The political environment in Turkey also poses challenges.

The first shipment of earthquake-related aid crossed from Turkey into Syria’s rebel-held enclave on Friday, a painful delay caused by damage and debris but also a U.N. policy that allows only for the use of a single crossing.

However, some aid groups were already in place because of the country’s 12-year civil war. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) had 500 staff, two of whom were among those killed, stationed in northern Syria, where they’ve helped meet medical needs amid the conflict.

“We were able to do a massive distribution of food and blankets to more than 500 families,” from one of their warehouses in the immediate aftermath of the quake, said Avril Benoît, executive director for MSF USA. Her organization keeps emergency supplies on hand in the case of major disasters.

“There’s a long tail to an emergency like this, both for the injured from the earthquake, but also for chronic disease management, making sure they have access to their medications,” Benoît said.

People will die without access to medications to control chronic illnesses such as hypertension and diabetes, she said, adding that the earthquake will also take a mental toll.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said they had 5,200 volunteers mobilized on both sides of the border, with the Turkish operation being more robust and better-equipped because of its longstanding program to support Syrian refugees.

The IFRC’s Syrian chapter works in areas controlled by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. and European countries. In the past year, little humanitarian aid has arrived from Damascus to the opposition-held north, which has suffered an outbreak of cholera and COVID-19 amid desperate living conditions for many.

The Syrian government said Friday that it would allow aid to reach all parts of the country, including the northern enclave, portions of which are controlled by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an insurgent group with ties to al-Qaida, as well as groups backed by Turkey and U.S.-backed Kurdish groups.

The Syrian American Medical Society, which also provides significant medical services in northern Syria, has called for the opening of additional border crossings and has commissioned a legal analysis that argues the United Nations has the authority to use other crossings.

“We think that the U.N. does not really need a Security Council resolution to proceed with this lifesaving medical relief,” said Dr. Basel Termanini, the medical society’s board chair.

Both MSF and SAMS said their supplies in the region are much depleted and need new shipments to continue to help.

However, delivering supplies is difficult. There are major obstacles to moving machinery to places in Syria where it’s needed to remove rubble. Fuel shortages also constrain the supply of electricity, said Xavier Castellanos, undersecretary general for operations coordination of the IFRC.

He called the situation in the region “the great storm,” with all the conditions reducing the amount of support to below the level that it should be.

Castellanos, speaking from Geneva on Thursday, said the IFRC has received “soft” pledges from governments and a very small number of pledges from companies so far. The group will look to individual giving to make up for the shortfall because those funds can be used wherever they are needed most.

The group has launched an appeal of 200 million Swiss Francs ($217 million) for responses in both countries and the national chapters of the IFRC are also collecting donations. He estimated the IFRC has received 7 million Swiss Francs ($7.6 million) so far in the early response to their appeals.

As of Thursday, MSF had $5.1 million come in from online donations along with a 10 million euros ($10.7 million) donation from the IKEA Foundation. SAMS had raised almost $2 million between a Facebook fundraiser and another on GiveSmart as of Friday.

The humanitarian organization Direct Relief immediately granted $100,000 to both SAMS and AKUT, a Turkish search and rescue team, and announced Friday that it was increasing its commitment to $3 million because of the strong support coming from donors from more than 70 countries. The Santa Barbara, California-based organization has shipped 42 pallets of supplies that it says will arrive by Sunday.

Thomas Tighe, who leads Direct Relief, said his team has opened discussions with health care companies to source the medications and supplies that are mostly likely to be needed based on the limited information available and in coordination with other groups.

“If you rush in too fast with the wrong quantities or the wrong material, you clog up the already compromised distribution channels, which then compounds the problem,” Tighe said.

Amazon has pledged $600,000 to humanitarian organizations, including AKUT and Red Crescent of Türkiye, in addition to supplying emergency supplies for cold weather, the company said in an online post. The founder of yogurt giant Chobani, Hamdi Ulukaya, a native of Turkey, pledged $1 million to the Turkish Philanthropy Funds and promised to match another $1 million in donations.

The IFRC already is planning its recovery efforts over 12 months, with reoccurring assessments to define the scope. Trauma response and sanitation issues are among the top priorities.

Some Syrians in the affected area have already been displaced many times by the war as well as separated from their families with little support. Many now have lost whatever shelter they had acquired.

“Over 12 years, you can imagine the loss of hope that one would have,” said Benoît, of MSF, which also provides psychological first aid and will train people to provide it if there are not enough counselors.

“It’s essentially to help the person in a culturally appropriate way, whatever is resonant for them,” she said. “To get through the day. To to be able to function, to be able to feed their children.”

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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February 11, 2023
Fundraisers for Syria, Turkey earthquake try to deliver aid

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NEW YORK — Humanitarian groups working in southern Turkey and northwest Syria warn that Monday’s earthquake will have a “long tail” — a wide range of needs that will require donations for months, or even years, after the rescue and recovery missions end.

Among the worst in recent history, the 7.8 magnitude earthquake has killed at least 23,200 in the region and left tens of thousands more homeless, with thousands taking refuge in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centers. Humanitarian access to northern Syria is complicated by the civil war, while sending funds can be blocked or slowed by U.S. sanctions, despite an exemption for relief efforts. The political environment in Turkey also poses challenges.

The first shipment of earthquake-related aid crossed from Turkey into Syria’s rebel-held enclave on Friday, a painful delay caused by damage and debris but also a U.N. policy that allows only for the use of a single crossing.

However, some aid groups were already in place because of the country’s 12-year civil war. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) had 500 staff, two of whom were among those killed, stationed in northern Syria, where they’ve helped meet medical needs amid the conflict.

“We were able to do a massive distribution of food and blankets to more than 500 families,” from one of their warehouses in the immediate aftermath of the quake, said Avril Benoît, executive director for MSF USA. Her organization keeps emergency supplies on hand in the case of major disasters.

“There’s a long tail to an emergency like this, both for the injured from the earthquake, but also for chronic disease management, making sure they have access to their medications,” Benoît said.

People will die without access to medications to control chronic illnesses such as hypertension and diabetes, she said, adding that the earthquake will also take a mental toll.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said they had 5,200 volunteers mobilized on both sides of the border, with the Turkish operation being more robust and better-equipped because of its longstanding program to support Syrian refugees.

The IFRC’s Syrian chapter works in areas controlled by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. and European countries. In the past year, little humanitarian aid has arrived from Damascus to the opposition-held north, which has suffered an outbreak of cholera and COVID-19 amid desperate living conditions for many.

The Syrian government said Friday that it would allow aid to reach all parts of the country, including the northern enclave, portions of which are controlled by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an insurgent group with ties to al-Qaida, as well as groups backed by Turkey and U.S.-backed Kurdish groups.

The Syrian American Medical Society, which also provides significant medical services in northern Syria, has called for the opening of additional border crossings and has commissioned a legal analysis that argues the United Nations has the authority to use other crossings.

“We think that the U.N. does not really need a Security Council resolution to proceed with this lifesaving medical relief,” said Dr. Basel Termanini, the medical society’s board chair.

Both MSF and SAMS said their supplies in the region are much depleted and need new shipments to continue to help.

However, delivering supplies is difficult. There are major obstacles to moving machinery to places in Syria where it’s needed to remove rubble. Fuel shortages also constrain the supply of electricity, said Xavier Castellanos, undersecretary general for operations coordination of the IFRC.

He called the situation in the region “the great storm,” with all the conditions reducing the amount of support to below the level that it should be.

Castellanos, speaking from Geneva on Thursday, said the IFRC has received “soft” pledges from governments and a very small number of pledges from companies so far. The group will look to individual giving to make up for the shortfall because those funds can be used wherever they are needed most.

The group has launched an appeal of 200 million Swiss Francs ($217 million) for responses in both countries and the national chapters of the IFRC are also collecting donations. He estimated the IFRC has received 7 million Swiss Francs ($7.6 million) so far in the early response to their appeals.

As of Thursday, MSF had $5.1 million come in from online donations along with a 10 million euros ($10.7 million) donation from the IKEA Foundation. SAMS had raised almost $2 million between a Facebook fundraiser and another on GiveSmart as of Friday.

The humanitarian organization Direct Relief immediately granted $100,000 to both SAMS and AKUT, a Turkish search and rescue team, and announced Friday that it was increasing its commitment to $3 million because of the strong support coming from donors from more than 70 countries. The Santa Barbara, California-based organization has shipped 42 pallets of supplies that it says will arrive by Sunday.

Thomas Tighe, who leads Direct Relief, said his team has opened discussions with health care companies to source the medications and supplies that are mostly likely to be needed based on the limited information available and in coordination with other groups.

“If you rush in too fast with the wrong quantities or the wrong material, you clog up the already compromised distribution channels, which then compounds the problem,” Tighe said.

Amazon has pledged $600,000 to humanitarian organizations, including AKUT and Red Crescent of Türkiye, in addition to supplying emergency supplies for cold weather, the company said in an online post. The founder of yogurt giant Chobani, Hamdi Ulukaya, a native of Turkey, pledged $1 million to the Turkish Philanthropy Funds and promised to match another $1 million in donations.

The IFRC already is planning its recovery efforts over 12 months, with reoccurring assessments to define the scope. Trauma response and sanitation issues are among the top priorities.

Some Syrians in the affected area have already been displaced many times by the war as well as separated from their families with little support. Many now have lost whatever shelter they had acquired.

“Over 12 years, you can imagine the loss of hope that one would have,” said Benoît, of MSF, which also provides psychological first aid and will train people to provide it if there are not enough counselors.

“It’s essentially to help the person in a culturally appropriate way, whatever is resonant for them,” she said. “To get through the day. To to be able to function, to be able to feed their children.”

___

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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February 11, 2023
Quake brings chance for Syria’s Assad to ease isolation

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BEIRUT — On his first public visit touring the destruction wreaked by this week’s deadly earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria, Syrian President Bashar Assad on Friday pointedly shamed the West for shunning his country.

The embattled president may see the disaster, which shattered much of northern Syria, as an opportunity to push for an easing of his country’s isolation — if not from the United States and the European Union, which have enforced sanctions for years over the long, brutal civil war, then from Arab nations.

“The West prioritized politics over the humanitarian situation,” Assad told a group of reporters while visiting the Aleppo neighborhood of Masharqa, devastated by Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake. “It’s natural that they politicize the situation, but there is no humanitarianism, neither now nor in the past.”

Assad’s carefully choreographed tour came five days after the quake hit, a contrast to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been visiting devastated parts of Turkey for several days.

The tragedy presents a danger for Assad from the sheer weight of new misery the quake brings to Syrians. The country has been crippled by an economic crisis that has pulled 90% of its population into poverty. Now as many as 5.3 million people may have been left homeless in Syria by the disaster, the U.N. refugee agency estimated.

Major fighting in the 12-year-old civil war eased years ago, but Syrians have only seen conditions get worse. Many were already struggling to afford food and fuel for heating. Rising frustration has sparked rare protests and critical voices against Assad in government-held territory for the first time in a decade. Failure to deliver aid or recover from the quake could further stoke public discontent.

The quake — the world’s deadliest in decades with more than 23,000 dead — left widespread destruction across southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, both in the last rebel-held pocket of territory in the northwest and in swaths of government-held territory, particularly the city of Aleppo.

Officials in Assad’s government claim American and European sanctions are obstructing delivery of aid to Syria and slowing down search and rescue operations to save families still trapped under the rubble.

“Assad is trying to exploit the earthquakes to get out of international isolation,” Lina Khatib, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, told The Associated Press.

“His regime’s call for the lifting of sanctions is an attempt at de facto normalization with the international community,” she added.

The EU said Syria did not formally request aid until three days after the quake, and six member countries are sending help via the U.N.’s World Food Program. The U.S. said it has temporarily lifted sanctions that would hamper earthquake relief. Assad and Syrian officials have not commented.

But the U.S. and the EU have made clear they will not end the sanctions imposed over Assad’s crackdown on the opposition and his forces’ brutal methods against rebels in the civil war.

Assad himself has not called for sanctions to be lifted since the earthquake. Khatib said she expects he won’t do so because it would make him look weak in front of his people after years of hard-line rhetoric against Western countries.

He may see hope in Arab countries.

Assad’s closest allies, Russia, Iran and China, all sent aid after the disaster. But so did key U.S. Arab allies, notably the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Jordan.

Arab countries that shunned Syria since 2011 have been slowly reestablishing diplomatic ties with Damascus. A growing number of countries have called for Syria to be reinstated into the Arab League.

“These dynamics were already in place, led by the United Arab Emirates,” and the earthquake could accelerate them, said Nadim Houry, executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative, a think tank.

The quake allows Arab countries “to work in a non-controversial manner due to the humanitarian urgency and provides space for this rapprochement to materialize,” he said.

Delays in getting aid into opposition-held northwestern Syria have renewed debates about the U.N. system already in place to provide humanitarian help to the territory.

U.N. aid is delivered through a single border-crossing from Turkey because Russia has blocked the use of a second. The United Nations has also been delivering some aid to the rebel-held northwest from within Syria, across conflict lines, from Damascus.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Friday that the U.N. has been in contact with the Syrian government about getting a cross-line convoy into the northwest quickly.

Assad and Russia have called for aid deliveries to the enclave to be done exclusively through Damascus, which the U.N. agencies and Western countries oppose, fearing he would divert aid to supporters. But experts say the Syrian leader and Moscow may use the urgency of the situation to push for a change.

“There is an urgent need now for more assistance. There needs to be a solution that doesn’t get politicized, while at the same time does not play into the hands of the regime,” Houry said.

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Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

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February 10, 2023
Live Updates I Focus turns to quake aid but rescues continue

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Emergency crews made a series of dramatic rescues in Turkey on Friday, pulling several people from the rubble four days after a catastrophic 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed more than 20,000. Temperatures remain below freezing across the large region, and many people have no place to shelter. The government has distributed millions of hot meals, as well as tents and blankets, but is still struggling to reach many people in need.

The Latest on the earthquake:

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BAB AL-HAWA, Syria — A United Nations spokesperson says the first earthquake-related aid convoy of 14 trucks has crossed from Turkey into northwestern Syria.

The road to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing was obstructed for days following the earthquake due to road damage and debris from collapsed buildings. The U.N. spokesperson confirmed the convoy’s crossing into Syria to The Associated Press confirmed on Friday.

A convoy of six trucks containing shelter items crossed the border Thursday, though it was intended to enter the rebel-held Syrian enclave before the earthquake.

The United Nations is not authorized to deliver aid into Syria through other border crossings under a U.N. Security Council resolution.

-By Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut.

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

— Death toll rises, rescues dwindle in quake aftermath

— Turkey’s lax policing of building codes flagged before quake

— Syrian orphans taken in by overwhelmed relatives

— A glance at the world’s deadliest quakes in the past 25 years

— Find more AP coverage at https:// apnews.com/hub/earthquakes

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The Kurdistan Workers’ Party has declared a ceasefire in its conflict with Turkey to facilitate rescue operations following the devastating earthquake.

According to a spokesperson for the group, Zagros Hiwa, the ceasefire comes on the orders of PKK leader Cemil Bayik “to allow rescue operations and reduce pain of affected people in disaster zone.” Hiwa added Friday that it is an “open ceasefire” but “depends also on Turkey’s response,” meaning “if they attack us, we will respond.”

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has waged an armed insurgency against Turkey since 1984 with the aim of establishing a Kurdish state in southeast Turkey, which has since morphed into a campaign for autonomy. The conflict between militants and state forces has killed tens of thousands of people.

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NICOSIA, Cyprus — The Foreign Ministry of ethnically divided Cyprus says Turkey has “kindly declined” its offer for a rescue team to help with the search for people trapped in collapsed buildings following Monday’s devastating earthquake.

The Foreign Ministry said in a tweet Friday that the offer, which had been initially accepted, “still stands” and expressed gratefulness for professional rescuers “ready to save lives everywhere.”

A 15-member Cypriot team of rescuers as well as a doctor and a paramedic had been on standby since Wednesday to travel to Turkey as part of the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism.

Turkey doesn’t recognize Cyprus as a state and has stationed thousands of troops in the island’s breakaway Turkish Cypriot north since 1974, when it invaded following a coup there aimed at union with Greece.

Non-governmental organizations, private citizens and other groups in the Greek Cypriot south are organizing a food, clothing and medicine collection drive for Turkey’s quake-hit areas.

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ALEPPO, Syria — Syrian President Bashar Assad has made his first public appearance in the earthquake-devastated areas of Syria.

Four days after the 7.8-magnitude temblor, Assad and his wife, Asmaa, visited wounded patients Friday at the Aleppo University Hospital, Syrian state media said.

Aleppo is Syria’s second city, already scarred by years of heavy bombardment and shelling, and was among the most devastated cities by the Feb. 6 earthquake.

Assad has been meeting with delegations from countries sending aid, but until now those have taken place in Damascus. Friday’s visit to Aleppo marked his first visit to the earthquake-affected areas.

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TOKYO — Japan is providing emergency blankets, sleeping mats, plastic sheets and tents to Syria following the Feb. 6 earthquake.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry said Friday the shipment of emergency humanitarian aid was sent at the request of the Syrian government and was being provided though the Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA.

Japan has dispatched a team of about 70 search and rescue workers to Turkey.

The quake killed more than 21,000 people in southeast Turkey and northwest Syria.

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday it has issued a license to allow earthquake-related relief to get through that would otherwise be prohibited by sanctions on Syria.

“U.S. sanctions in Syria will not stand in the way of life-saving efforts for the Syrian people,’’ deputy Treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement. “While U.S. sanctions programs already contain robust exemptions for humanitarian efforts, today Treasury is issuing a blanket General License to authorize earthquake relief efforts so that those providing assistance can focus on what’s needed most: saving lives and rebuilding.”

The license lasts for six months. It expands on broad humanitarian authorizations already in effect.

The United States will provide $85 million in initial earthquake aid to Turkey and Syria, which will include medicine, shelter and other supplies, President Joe Biden announced. “Our hearts remain with the people of Türkiye and Syria,” he said on Twitter.

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February 10, 2023
AP Week in Pictures: Europe and Africa

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ByThe Associated Press

February 10, 2023, 2:47 AM

FEB. 2-9, 2023

From the earthquake that ravaged parts of Turkey and Syria to the ongoing war in Ukraine and the Pope’s visit to South Sudan, this photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or published in the past week by The Associated Press from Europe and Africa.

The selection was curated by AP photographer Alexander Zemlianichenko in Moscow.

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 10, 2023
Death toll rises, rescues dwindle in earthquake aftermath

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KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey — A teenager was pulled largely unscathed from beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in the Turkish city of Gaziantep early Friday, in a dramatic rescue that belied the reality that the chances of finding many more survivors four days after a catastrophic earthquake killed tens of thousands are shrinking fast.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the border region between Turkey and Syria, an area home to more than 13.5 million people, killing more than 20,000 people. Bodies lay wrapped in blankets, rugs and tarps in the streets of some cities, with morgues and cemeteries overwhelmed.

Before dawn in Gaziantep, near the epicenter of the quake, rescuers pulled Adnan Muhammed Korkut from the basement where had been trapped since the temblor struck Monday. The 17-year-old beamed a smile at the crowd of friends and relatives who chanted “Adnan,” “Adnan,” clapping and crying tears of joy as he was carried out and put onto a stretcher.

“Thank God you arrived,” he said, embracing his mother and others who leaned down to kiss and hug him as he was being loaded into an ambulance. “Thank you everyone.”

Trapped for 94 hours, but not crushed, the teenager said he had been forced to drink his own urine to slake his thirst.

“I was able to survive that way,” he said.

“I have a son just like you,” a rescue worker, identified only as Yasemin, told him after giving him a warm hug. “I swear to you, I have not slept for four days. I swear I did not sleep; I was trying to get you out.”

The death toll from the earthquake, which Turkish Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called “the disaster of the century,” has risen to nearly 21,000, eclipsing the more than 18,400 who died in the 2011 earthquake off Fukushima, Japan, that triggered a tsunami and the estimated 18,000 people who died in a temblor near the Turkish capital, Istanbul, in 1999.

The new figure, which is certain to rise, included over 17,600 people in Turkey and more than 3,300 in civil war-torn Syria. Tens of thousands were also injured and many tens of thousands have been left homeless.

Aerial footage revealed the scope of devastation, with entire neighborhoods of high-rises reduced to twisted metal, pulverized concrete and exposed wires.

Even though experts say trapped people could survive for a week or more, the chances of finding survivors in the freezing temperatures are dimming. As emergency crews and panicked relatives dug through the rubble — and occasionally found people alive — the focus began to shift to demolishing dangerously unstable structures.

In Kahramanmaras, the city closest to the epicenter, a sports hall the size of a basketball court served as a makeshift morgue to accommodate and identify bodies.

Workers continued rescue operations in Kahramanmaras, but it was clear that many who were trapped in collapsed buildings had already died. One rescue worker was heard saying that his psychological state was declining and that the smell of death was becoming too much to bear.

In northwestern Syria, the first U.N. aid trucks since the quake to enter the rebel-controlled area from Turkey arrived Thursday, underscoring the difficulty of getting help to people there.

In the Turkish city of Antakya, dozens scrambled for aid in front of a truck distributing children’s coats and other supplies. One survivor, Ahmet Tokgoz, called for the government to evacuate people from the region. Many of those who have lost their homes found shelter in tents, stadiums and other temporary accommodation, but others have slept outdoors.

“Especially in this cold, it is not possible to live here,” he said. “If people haven’t died from being stuck under the rubble, they’ll die from the cold.”

The winter weather and damage to roads and airports have hampered the response. Some in Turkey have complained that the government was slow to respond — a perception that could hurt Erdogan at a time when he faces a tough battle for reelection in May.

Erdogan has been visiting affected cities over the last two days.

Turkey’s disaster-management agency said more than 110,000 rescue personnel were now taking part in the effort and more than 5,500 vehicles, including tractors, cranes, bulldozers and excavators had been shipped. The Foreign Ministry said 95 countries have offered help.

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Alsayed reported from Bab al-Hawa, Syria, and Bilginsoy from Istanbul. Associated Press journalists Mehmet Guzel in Antakya, Turkey; Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; Emrah Gurel and Yakup Paksoy in Adiyaman, Turkey; Robert Badendieck in Istanbul; Bassem Mroue and Abby Sewell in Beirut; and David Rising in Bangkok contributed.

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February 9, 2023