More than 45,000 dead after earthquakes in Syria and Turkey

Strong aftershocks continue to shake the region while people in the Turkish and Syrian earthquake areas are struggling to survive. For the coming days, the Turkish civil protection Afad expects earthquakes with a strength of more than five. There is an aftershock in the region about every four minutes, Afad risk mitigation director Orhan Tatar told the state-run Anadolu Agency. So far there have been more than 4,700 aftershocks. More than 84,000 buildings in Turkey have collapsed or been severely damaged, as the Minister of Urban Planning, Murat Kurum, announced on Friday. Thousands of houses have also been destroyed in Syria. In the earthquake areas, authorities are therefore still warning people not to return to their homes.

Tap water may mix with sewerage
In Turkey there is already no drinking water in some places because of the destruction, as the head of the Medical Association (TTB) in Adana in southern Turkey, Selahattin Mentes, said. The district of Nurdag in Gaziantep is affected. Elsewhere, the tap water could possibly be contaminated by mixing with the sewage system. "We urgently need access to clean drinking water in the region and we have to establish hygiene. In addition, the garbage has to be disposed of." Otherwise there is a risk of infectious diseases such as cholera. Eleven days after the quake, there are still sensational reports from Turkey about rescues. According to the state-affiliated broadcaster CNN Türk, helpers in the Turkish city of Antakya rescued two victims from the rubble after 261 hours.

According to the Turkish Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca, one of the two young men insisted on calling a relative immediately after his liberation. A video showed how a person called burst into tears on the phone when he heard about the rescued According to Anadolu, even one man was rescued in Hatay after 278 hours. The information could not be independently verified.