February 8, 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake news

Six people, including one child, were pulled out of the rubble alive in the 60th hour after an earthquake that struck Turkey on Monday, according to CNN's sister network CNN Turk.

CNN Turk cameras showed health officials running towards the rubble in Kahramanmaras.

A few minutes later, cameras showed a rescue team officer carrying a young child with short brown curly hair.  

The CNN Turk reporter called the rescue operation a "miracle escape" and "unbelievable."

The rescue happened in the city center of Kahramanmaras, according to the CNN Turk correspondent. 

More than 298,000 people in Syria have been forced to leave their homes as a result of the deadly earthquake, a local official said, according to state-run news.

Local Administration and Environment Minister Hussein Makhlouf said the earthquake’s death toll so far has risen to 1,262 and injuries have reached 2,258, in an apparent reference to the parts of Syria under government control and not those held by other factions.

Makhlouf said the government had also opened 180 shelters for displaced people.

“We do not deny the difficulty of the situation compared to the available capabilities. Weather also had an impact on the rescue operations and the provision of relief, but despite this, the relief cadres and doctors did not hesitate to provide all the requirements,” Makhlouf added.

Turkey's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said Wednesday that it is still fighting a blaze at the Iskenderun port.

"Our teams are working continuously at the Iskenderun Port to cool down the fire from air and land," according to its official Twitter account. 

The port of Iskenderun on the Mediterranean coast remained closed following heavy damage from Monday’s earthquake and a subsequent fire that broke out among containers at the terminal. 

A series of dramatic photos show 8-year-old Yigit Cakmak being pulled from the rubble by emergency workers in Hatay, Turkey, 52 hours after the initial earthquake struck the region.

Getty photographer Burak Kara captured the photos of Cakmak as he was freed from the collapsed building.

The boy was passed over debris from rescuer to rescuer until he was finally in the arms of his mother who was waiting at the site.

Syria’s government has ramped up its calls for the removal of economic US and EU sanctions in the aftermath of Monday's earthquake.

Relief groups working from government-controlled areas in Syria have pinned the lack of heavy machinery and medical equipment needed to remove rubble and treat the injured on the Western sanctions.

The measures were imposed on Syria to pressure the regime into a political process that could put an end to the ongoing civil conflict.

Some context: Most of the Syrian quake casualties have been reported in the northwest of the country, predominantly in the cities of Aleppo, Hama, Latakia and Tartus, according to the state news agency, SANA.

This region was already struggling to rebuild vital infrastructure heavily damaged by continual aerial bombardment during the country’s civil war, which the UN estimates to have claimed 300,000 lives since 2011.

Half of northwestern Syria’s 4.6 million population have been forced out of their homes by the conflict, with 1.7 million now living in tents and refugee camps in the region, according to the UN children’s agency, UNICEF.

Several parts of northwestern Syria, including Idlib, are still controlled by anti-government rebels.

On Wednesday, the Syrian government’s foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, called on Europe to send aid, saying that sanctions should not be used “as an excuse.”

“Sending aid from Europe does not need to undergo a bureaucratic process. International law states that humanitarian aid is not be not subject to sanctions, so this is no excuse,” Mekdad told Lebanese outlet Al Mayadeen.

When asked whether the regime will allow aid into rebel-controlled territories, the Syrian government said that international aid will be distributed only by the Syrian government. 

“The Syrian state is ready to allow aid to enter into all regions, provided that it does not reach terrorist armed groups," Mekdad said.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that: “in Syria, we have a partner in the form of NGOs on the ground who are providing humanitarian support.”

“These partners, who unlike the Syrian regime, are there to help the people rather than brutalize them,” Price added.

CNN's Rhea Mogul, Isil Sariyuce, Gul Tuysuz and Jack Guy contributed reporting.

International leaders have pledged to send help to Turkey and Syria after a deadly earthquake ripped through the region Monday, leaving thousands of casualties and collapsed buildings in its wake.

Aid workers are struggling to access victims of the powerful quake in northwestern Syria amid conflict and political crisis in the country.

Here are Wednesday's latest developments:

The Turkish government has established 77 field hospitals in 10 provinces that were hit by the earthquake Monday, as freezing weather conditions hamper rescue efforts across Turkey and Syria.

"We can also perform surgical operations in some of these hospitals where emergency health services are provided," Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted Wednesday.

"Our earthquake victims with risky health conditions are transferred to the hospitals in the region by helicopters after the first response," he added. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is visiting areas heavily struck by the deadly quake, having declared a three-month state of emergency in the 10 provinces on Tuesday.

Organized chaos is the order of the day at this Istanbul aid collection and distribution center.

A CNN team saw volunteers darting in and out of the alleys of boxes and household goods in the Topbaş Performance and Art Center in the Yenikapi district of Turkey's biggest city, where wheelbarrows were stacked high with nappies and cakes.

Everything from toilet paper to excavators have been channeled through the center after it transformed into a donations hub two days ago, hours after the earthquake rocked southern Turkey and northwest Syria on Monday. Contributions have poured in from major firms and individuals alike, with a focus on the essentials of survival: food, water and clothing. 

Snow is beginning to settle on the car park outside, where 53 cargo trucks have departed for the southern Hatay province since Monday. Regular arrivals of families bring in portable heaters, carpets and even baby strollers, the everyday essentials of life ripped away from their compatriots by the earthquake.

The neon jackets of the council workers glint among the masses of some 2,000 volunteers crowding the tables, where volunteers process donations from across the city. 

“It’s a horrible situation but it also gives hope,” Esra Huri Bulduk, a city council aid coordinator, told CNN.

“The volunteers are working so hard,” she said of the locals staffing the center, which is running 24/7.

"We have seen mothers bringing baby food they bought for their child, to donate," Bulduk added.

Smaller trucks ferry goods in and out of the three cavernous hangers that make up the exhibition center; some 5,000 sets of clothes for men, women and children have been shipped out, alongside nearly 3,000 hygiene kits and 10,000 food packets.

Three excavators, 90 generators and 26 pieces of construction machinery have also been shipped out for the 12-hour drive to the disaster zone. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government's target is to rebuild the southern region of Kahramanmaras, the epicenter of Monday's deadly earthquake, "in one year."

"We can never let our citizens stay on the streets," Erdogan said Wednesday while speaking from an emergency relief area set up by the country's disaster management agency. 

"Our state is using all its resources with AFAD (Turkey's disaster management agency) and municipalities. We will continue to do so."

The president said the government is planning to give 10,000 Turkish liras (around $531 USD) to help families impacted by the quake, and has organized hotels for citizens to stay in, if they want to. 

Erdogan also acknowledged the government "had some problems" clearing blocked roads and providing natural gas to cities and aid workers, which prevented rescuers from reaching collapsed buildings in order to retrieve survivors.

However, he said the situation is now "under control." "We are in better place today, will be even better tomorrow," Erdogan added.

A cold weather blast across Turkey and Syria has complicated the search for survivors, as freezing temperatures are increasing the risk of hypothermia for those stuck underneath the rubble.