February 11, 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake news

Our live coverage of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria has moved here.

Mesut Hancer holds the hand of his 15-year-old daughter Irmak, who was killed in the earthquake.

A father who was photographed holding the hand of his 15-year-old daughter under earthquake rubble in Kahramanmaras this week said she died at the moment of the earthquake with no chance to escape.

Speaking to CNN Turk on Saturday, Mesut Hancer said he lost other family members in the earthquake including his mother, two older brothers and one sister-in-law.

Hancer said he was able to get to his daughter three days after the earthquake. She had been visiting her paternal grandmother in Kahramanmaras.

He said his daughter’s body above her waist had been outside the rubble but the rest was under the rubble. Authorities were unable to bring a construction lift to help pull out her body and a man helped him dig his daughter’s body out.

Hancer also told CNN Turk he is currently without a home due to the damage that occurred on his house.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in a tweet Saturday that aid to Syria was being routed through Beirut, Lebanon. 

“We were the first in Europe to send aid to Syria. (The aid is) transported to Beirut because it was not possible for us to land in Aleppo. Now (it) will reach Damascus and be sorted by the Red Crescent,” the tweet read. 

More than 28,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands injured after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria on Monday, officials said.

Rescue operations are over in rebel-held areas of northwest Syria, the White Helmets volunteer organization said on Friday. Relief efforts there have been complicated by a long-running civil war.

The Syrian government approved sending aid to the rebel-held territories Friday but did not provide specifics.

The death toll across Turkey and Syria following Monday’s earthquake has reached 28,192.

Turkey’s death toll climbed to 24,617, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said in a news conference Saturday.

In Syria, the total number of confirmed deaths stand at 3,575, including 2,167 in rebel-held areas in the northwest, according to the White Helmets civil defense group. An additional 1,408 deaths have been recorded in government-controlled territories, according to Syrian state media, which cited the country’s health ministry.

Authorities in Turkey have detained a number of individuals responsible for the construction of buildings that collapsed in Monday’s catastrophic earthquake, according to Turkish state news agency Anadolu.

Hasan Alpargün, the owner of a company that built buildings destroyed in the city of Adana, was detained in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Saturday, according to Anadolu.

Prosecutors in the city of Adana have issued a detention order for 62 people in relation to an investigation into the buildings destroyed by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake.

Mehmet Yaşar Coşkun, who Anadolu said is the contractor for Rönesans Residence, a block of high-rise luxury flats that collapsed in Hatay Province, was also arrested on Saturday. Coşkun was intercepted by authorities at Istanbul Airport on Friday while attempting to flee to Montenegro, according to Anadolu. 

Contractor İbrahim Mustafa Uncuoğlu was also detained in Istanbul on Saturday over allegedly faulty inspections of the Bahar Apartments, which collapsed in the earthquake epicenter of Gaziantep, the news agency said.

A view of the damage as the search for survivors continues, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey February 10, 2023. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Related article Quake-hit Turkey and Syria face years of rebuilding. Experts say it didn't have to be this way | CNN

Rescue workers carry Yigit Cakmak from the site of a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, on Wednesday, February 8.

Five days after the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, teams are rushing to save victims that could still be alive under rubble, with a UN liaison officer in Turkey warning that they are “approaching the end of the search and rescue window.”

While calling on the international community to “act immediately” in providing humanitarian aid to Syria, Syrian-American actor Jay Abdo told CNN on Saturday that civilians were “racing against time” to rescue loved ones.

More than 25,000 people have died across both countries, according to authorities.

However, in the midst of tragedy, there have been miraculous scenes of survival and rescue, even days after the quake.

Here’s a list of survivors who, against the odds, were found among the wreckage:

Watch a report from CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh here:

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03:17 • Source: CNN

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signs a condolence book at the Turkish Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 11.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the Turkish Embassy in Ukraine on Saturday and honored the memory of those who died as a result of the devastating earthquake that took the lives of more than 25,000 people.

The Ukrainian president wrote in a book of mourning and laid flowers on the embassy’s grounds. 

He also spoke with Turkish Ambassador to Ukraine Yagmur Ahmet Guldere during his visit.  

Zelensky said in his nightly address Saturday that the State Emergency Service of Ukraine is helping with debris removal in Turkey.

He added that the Ukrainian Embassy is looking into information about Ukrainian nationals in Turkey who may have been impacted by the earthquake. 

Medical supplies from China's Red Cross arrive in Damascus, Syria, on February 10.

Recovery in Turkey after the devastating earthquake has now entered the “humanitarian phase,” according to Jamie LeSueur, the head of emergency operations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

As his team moves on from search-and-rescue operations, the greatest needs for those affected in Turkey continue to be food, health and water, LeSueur told CNN from Gaziantep.

The organization is receiving many winterized tents right now due to cold weather, but it is looking into pre-fabricated transitional shelter options, he said. Most of the population is too afraid to go inside, even if their homes have not been completely destroyed.  

“We want to get them out of the humanitarian phase as quickly as possible, into something sustainable and transitional that’s going to keep them safe for a long time,” the crisis responder said.

LeSueur added that his team is preparing for any eventuality, including the spread of diseases, and they are coordinating with the Turkish Red Crescent about sanitation needs.

The Red Cross is well-positioned to deal with needs in southern Turkey, he said, but also in hard-hit areas of northwestern Syria, where aid has been more complicated due to years of civil war.

“In Turkey, we’ve established an operation that goes to the border with Syria, and in Syria, we’re using the Syrian Arab Red Crescent that going up to the Turkish border; we’re trying to cover the entire operational area with two national societies,” he said.

Vehicles carry aid into Syria.

Vehicles carrying the bodies of hundreds of Syrians killed in this week’s earthquake crossed into northwestern Syria from Turkey on Saturday, a spokesperson for the Bab al-Hawa border crossing told CNN.

The bodies of at least 1,000 victims have crossed through Bab al-Hawa so they can be buried in their home country, spokesperson Mazen Alloush told CNN.

Other vehicles carrying aid and fuel also passed through the crossing Saturday, Alloush said, including 22 United Nations trucks carrying medical aid. An additional 15 trucks carried in clothes, water and food from Turkish charities in collaboration with the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation, Alloush said.

More on aid deliveries to the area: The delivery of urgent supplies to quake-hit areas of northern Syria has been complicated by a long-running civil war between opposition forces and the Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad, who is accused of killing his own people.

The Syrian government approved sending aid into the rebel-held territories Friday but has not provide a specific timeline.

So far, that’s left rebel-held areas reliant on aid groups, including the UN.

Sezai Karabas is put on a stretcher after being rescued from rubble on Saturday, February 11, in Gaziantep, Turkey. Karabas' daughter Sengul was also rescued. 

Rescuers in Gaziantep, Turkey, saved Sezai Karabas and his young daughter, Şengul Karabas, during the 132nd hour of rescue efforts there on Saturday. 

In video shared with CNN by its affiliate station, CNN Turk, the father can be heard pleading with rescuers to search for his wife, who he believes is still alive and trapped in a doorway.

“I’m forever in your debt,” Karabas can be heard telling the rescuers, imploring them to help find his wife, who he said ran ahead of him when the earthquake struck on Monday. 

In the same hour, but in the province of Hatay, a team of rescuers lifted a 34-year-old man, Ergin Guzeldogan, from deep within the ground in a video shared with CNN by the Municipality of Istanbul.

People mourn their relatives at a mass grave in Adiyaman, Turkey, on February 11.

The death toll following deadly earthquakes in Turkey and Syria has surpassed 25,000.

In Turkey, the number of people killed has risen to 21,848, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  

Speaking in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa on Saturday, Erdogan added that 80,104 people had been injured.

In Syria, the total number of deaths stands at 3,553, including 2,166 in rebel-held areas in the northwest, according to the White Helmets civil defense group. There have been 1,387 deaths in government-controlled parts of Syria, according to Syrian state media.

The total number of injured people in Syria across all affected territories stands at 5,273, with 2,326 in government-controlled areas and 2,950 in the rebel-held areas.

Martin Griffiths, second from left, attends a press conference in Maras, Turkey, on February 11.

The United Nations aid chief described this week’s devastating earthquake in southern Turkey and northwestern Syria as the “worst event in 100 years” to hit the region.

The official, Martin Griffiths, made the remark to reporters during a visit to Kahramanmaras, Turkey, on Saturday.

Griffiths, who is the current under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator at the UN, stressed that the UN would have a “clear plan” on either Sunday or Monday “to give an appeal for a three-month operation to help the people of Turkey with humanitarian assistance.”

He added that a similar plan will be laid out for the people of Syria. 

During his trip to Kahramanmaras, Griffith met families impacted by the devastating earthquake. Posting pictures of the meeting on Twitter, Griffiths said he had “listened to their stories of shock and devastation.”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma visit an injured girl at Tishreen University Hospital, in Latakia, Syria, on February 11.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma visited rescue teams and civilians in parts of northwestern Syria hit by Monday’s devastating earthquake, according to Syrian state media. 

State media SANA reported Saturday that they went to the Tishreen University Hospital in the city of Latakia to visit people injured by the earthquake. 

While in Latakia, the couple spoke to families impacted by earthquake at the city’s Bassel al-Assad educational center.

Assad and his wife also paid a visit to Russian and Syrian rescue teams operating in the city of Jableh, 25 kilometers (about 15.5 miles) south of Latakia. 

Pictures from the scene posted by SANA showed huge groups of rescue workers pause operations to listen to the president.

On Friday, Assad used his first televised comments since the earthquake struck parts of Syria to criticize Western nations.

Syria’s state-run media and government officials have pinned the lack of humanitarian aid and hindered rescue equipment on US and European Union sanctions. However, several countries have sent aid to Assad’s government, and international humanitarian organizations have distributed aid across government territory.

CNN’s Mostafa Salem and Eyad Kourdi contributed reporting to this post.

Germany has also suspended rescue and relief work at the site of a deadly earthquake in Turkey due to security concerns, following a similar move by Austria earlier Saturday.

The German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) stopped its rescue operations due to a change in the security situation in the Hatay region, the organization said in a statement Saturday.

It had been operating with International Search and Rescue (ISAR) Germany, in coordination with Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD).

The Austrian Army also cited security risks in suspending its operations.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan talks to the press while visiting Diyarbakir, Turkey, on February 11.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has warned that action will be taken against people looting and committing other crimes in some of the areas hit by the quake.

It comes as the president said that at least 21,043 people are known to have died in Turkey following Monday’s 7.8 magnitude quake.

There are increasing security concerns in the quake zone and the Austrian army has suspended rescue operations there due to an increasingly difficult security situation. 

Speaking in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey on Saturday, Erdogan also said university dorms will be dedicated to hosting earthquake victims who have lost homes and classes will go online to accommodate that until summer time. 

In Syria, the total number of dead stands at 3,513, including 2,166 in rebel-held areas in the northwest of the country, according to the “White Helmets” civil defense – and 1,347 deaths in government-controlled parts of Syria, according to Syrian state media.

Work was underway Friday night to transform an Istanbul ferry into floating accommodation for 1,200 earthquake-affected people.

The whirring of saws and hammering of nails filled the belly of the ferry, its silent parade of cars was replaced by a hive of midnight activity.

Above deck, seats of the cabin were empty and the tables bare except for the school books and toys that waited for unknown children. 

In Istanbul’s Yenikapı Port, a midnight transformation was underway Friday night, as city authorities raced to transform one of two ferryboats into a floating village, with enough showers, kitchens, and even school teachers to temporarily house 1,200 people left homeless by this week’s deadly earthquake.

With its departure set for Saturday morning, time was of the essence, with city workers and volunteers having only started the ship’s metamorphosis 24 hours earlier.

By midnight, a few dozen bunks stood upright, ready for the extra crew, and 14 hospital beds were being shrouded with sheets, for the injured evacuees, that the boat will pick up in Iskenderun port, in Turkey’s earthquake-stricken Hatay province. 

While Turkey’s president has promised to provide hotel rooms for homeless residents, this project was the product of Istanbul’s own initiative rather than any government edict.

It’s a much needed, if imperfect, solution to the impending housing crisis, with thousands of buildings destroyed, likely many more uninhabitable.

“People will be able to sleep,” Sinem Dedetaş, general manager of the Istanbul’s ferry lines, which owns the boat, said. “They will be able to wash and use toilets, to eat comfortably. We will have socialization and rehabilitation areas.” 

WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visits Aleppo, Syria, on February 11.

The World Health Organization’s director-general arrived in Syria’s earthquake-hit Aleppo city on Saturday, according to Syrian state media SANA. 

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus departed from Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport on Saturday morning on a humanitarian aid flight carrying more than $290,000 worth of trauma emergency and surgical kits, in coordination with Dubai’s International Humanitarian City (IHC), the IHC told CNN. 

Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Emergencies Programme, who departed on the flight with Ghebreyesus, told CNN on Friday that the aid shipment was a “scale up” of already existing WHO supplies in Syria. 

Another flight is scheduled to reach Syria on Sunday and is expected to carry “37 metric tons of emergency health supplies to reach 300 000 people,” the WHO said.

Some context: The international community has been urged to do more to help civilians in Syria following Monday’s devastating quake.

On Friday, volunteer organization Syria Civil Defense announced the end of its search and rescue operations for survivors in rebel-controlled areas in the north and northwest.

The Austrian Army has suspended rescue operations in Turkey due to an “increasingly difficult security situation,” according to the Austrian Forces Disaster Relief Unit (AFDRU).

“The expected success of saving a life bears no reasonable relation to the security risk. There is increasing aggression between groups in Turkey,” Lieutenant Colonel Pierre Kugelweis of the AFDRU said in a statement Saturday. 

“There was no attack on us Austrians. We’re all fine … The mood among the helpers is good, given the circumstances … We would like to help, but the circumstances are what they are,” Kugelweis continued.

“We keep our rescue and recovery forces ready. We are ready for further operations,” Kugelweis added, stating that a scheduled return to Austria for Thursday remains in place.

Since Tuesday, 82 AFDRU soldiers have been deployed. They have recovered nine buried people.

Actor Jay Abdo backstage at the UNHCR Gala in London, England, on October 22, 2017.

More needs to be done to get international aid into northwestern Syria, a Syrian-American actor has said, warning that civilians are “racing against time” to rescue loved ones, five days after the quake hit the region.

“Civilians are not receiving any support, aid or attention. The international community must act immediately,” Jay Abdo told CNN Saturday, adding: “There’s no time.”

He called on the international community to find points of entry through air and land routes to bring in rescue teams and deliver resources, as “civilians are using their hands to remove rubble in search of their beloved ones.”

Some context: Recovery work could take five to 10 years to get underway in Syria, where millions were already in need of humanitarian aid before the 7.8 magnitude quake struck.

The volunteer organization Syria Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, has announced the end of its search and rescue operations for survivors in rebel-controlled areas in the north and northwest.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told reporters on Friday that Western countries “have no regard for the human condition,” due to the lack of humanitarian aid and equipment.

The delivery of supplies to the rebel-held areas of northwest Syria has been complicated by the long-running civil war.

It took three days after the quake struck for a UN convoy to cross through the Bab al-Hawa crossing – the only humanitarian aid corridor between Turkey and Syria – and deliver supplies.

A 70-year-old woman named Menekse Tabak is rescued from rubble in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, on February 11.

A 70-year-old woman has been rescued from the rubble in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, 121 hours after the devastating earthquake hit the country and Syria, according to CNN’s sister network CNN Turk. She has been named as Menekse Tabak.

Rescue workers load Tabak into an ambulance.

This comes just a few hours after a 16-year-old boy was pulled alive from the rubble of a destroyed building in the region.

The 7.8 magnitude quake is the deadliest strike experienced by the country in more than 80 years, causing at least 20,665 deaths in Turkey alone.

A UN liaison officer in the country has warned that they are approaching the end of the search and rescue window, with a “lower probability” of finding survivors under the rubble in below freezing temperatures.

Rescue workers search rubble in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, on Saturday, February 11.