Several Survivors Rescued over Week after Earthquake in Türkiye

Eight days after the deadliest earthquake in the nation's recent history, local media claimed that at least five people were pulled from the wreckage of earthquake-hit districts of Türkiye on Tuesday.

Around 204 hours after the earthquake struck the area and areas of northwest Syria, a woman and a man were extricated from the rubble near the southern city of Hatay, according to Turkish media.

Muhammed Cafer, 18, was found alive in the wreckage of a building in southern Türkiye earlier on Tuesday, some 198 hours after the earthquake that struck the region on Monday.

Broadcasts in the Turkish province of Adiyman showed rescuers transporting Cafer to an ambulance from the scene of the fallen building while he was strapped to a stretcher, wearing an oxygen mask, and had an IV bag in her hand.

As he was dragged away, Cafer could be seen moving his fingers.

In the nearby province of Kahramanmaras, rescuers had just moments before managed to extricate two brothers alive from the rubble of an apartment building.

They were identified as Muhammed Enes Yeninar, 17, and his brother Baki Yeninar, 21, who was rescued after him, by the state-run Anadolu news agency.

They were both rushed to the hospital in ambulances. Their state was unknown.

On Tuesday, many survivors left the earthquake-affected areas of Türkiye, some with little chance of returning or seeing loved ones rescued from the rubble, as some of the rescue teams were packing up to leave.

"It is quite difficult. Starting from scratch, without any possessions or employment, "said Hamza Bekry, 22, a Syrian originally from Idlib who has spent the last 12 years residing in Hatay, southern Türkiye.

"Our home completely fell apart. Many of our kin passed away. Under the debris, there are still people "He continued as he got ready to travel with his family to the southern Turkish city of Isparta.

He will join the more than 158,000 people who have fled the area of southern Türkiye that has been devastated by the earthquake, one of the bloodiest in the area's recent history.

The calamity, which has now claimed more than 37,000 lives in Türkiye and neighbouring Syria, has destroyed entire cities in both countries, leaving survivors homeless in the freezing cold and at times lying on rubble mounds.

"I don't anticipate much from this life, but the lives of our children are vital," Hatay resident Riza Atahan remarked as he loaded his wife and daughter onto a bus that was taking them 300 kilometres to safety.

In the days following the earthquake, dozens of locals and first responders expressed confusion over the dearth of water, food, medicine, body bags, and cranes in the disaster area.

Remarked Qudsi, who lost his uncle, aunt, and their two sons in the earthquake, said that "they are not dead because of the earthquake, they are dead because of safeguards that weren't taken before."

According to Murat Kurum, minister of urbanisation for Türkiye, 42,000 structures in 10 cities had either collapsed, required immediate destruction, or were severely damaged.

Martin Griffiths, the head of the United Nations' relief efforts in Syria's destroyed Aleppo city, said on Monday that the rescue phase was "coming to a close" and that attention was now turning to shelter, food, and education as the already precarious chances of survival were further diminished by the cold.

Syrian refugees who had been displaced by the earthquake built improvised tents on a patch of grass in a public playground in the city of Gaziantep in southeast Türkiye using plastic sheets, blankets, cardboard, and furniture that had been torn apart.

"A lot of people are hurting. We requested a tent, assistance, or something similar, but as of right now, we haven't received anything "said Hassan Saimoua, a refugee who is residing in the playground with his family.

Eight days after the earthquake, the leading rescue organisation for the White Helmets, Raed al Saleh, announced that the search for survivors is set to come to an end in the opposition-held northwest of Syria.

The evidence we have suggests there are no [survivors], but he said, "We're trying to complete our last inspections on all places."

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A massive earthquake worsens an already precarious situation for Syrian migrants.

"A lot of people are hurting. We requested a tent, assistance, or something similar, but as of right now, we haven't received anything "said Hassan Saimoua, a refugee who is residing in the playground with his family.

Eight days after the earthquake, the leading rescue organisation for the White Helmets, Raed al Saleh, announced that the search for survivors is set to come to an end in the opposition-held northwest of Syria.

The evidence we have suggests there are no [survivors], but he said, "We're trying to complete our last inspections on all places."

LISTEN

A massive earthquake worsens an already precarious situation for Syrian migrants.

Russia added that it was finishing up its search and rescue operations in Türkiye and Syria and getting ready to leave the disaster area.

The Turkish toll was 31,974 killed, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said on Tuesday. More than 5,814 have died in Syria, according to a Reuters tally of reports from Syrian state media and a UN agency.