Rescuers scoured debris in a desperate search for survivors on Friday four days after a massive earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, killing nearly 22,000 people, as the United States offered an $85-million aid package.
The Philippine Embassy in Turkey confirmed that two Filipinos were among those killed in the quake but did not identify them. It said it was coordinating with their families.
“It is with deepest regret that the Embassy must inform the public of the passing of two Filipinos, both earlier reported to be missing in Antakya,” the embassy said in a statement.
“The Embassy and Consulate General express their deepest condolences and are in coordination with the victims’ families in both the Philippines and in Turkiye.”
In an ABS-CBN report, Filipino journalist Ted Regencia, who is based in Istanbul, identified one of the Pinoy fatalities as Wilma Tezcan, whose death was confirmed by her daughter.
Hailing from Lucena, Quezon, Wilma traveled from Istanbul to Hatay province on January 27 before Monday’s quake, Regencia reported.
Meanwhile, the PH embassy said another Filipino who was reported missing in Antakya was discovered to be alive. Regencia said the Filipino was rescued from the rubble 60 hours after the quake struck.
Weng Timoteo, vice-president of the Filipino community in Turkey, told ABS-CBN Filipinos are now banding together to help Tezcan’s family.
Other Filipinos in Hatay whose houses were not destroyed in the quake have chosen to stay, she said.
The Philippine government sent an 85-man response team to Turkey to help in the ongoing operations. The team arrived on Thursday in Istanbul, where most Filipinos are based and work as household service workers, businessmen, chefs, engineers, nurses, and teachers.
The first UN aid deliveries arrived on Thursday in Syrian rebel-held zones, but chances of finding survivors have dimmed since the passing of the three-day mark that experts consider a critical period to save lives.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said its aid package will go to partners on the ground “to deliver urgently needed aid for millions of people,” including through food, shelter, and emergency health services.
It will also support safe drinking water and sanitation to prevent the outbreak of disease, USAID said in a statement.
Bitter cold hampered search efforts in both countries, but more than 80 hours after the disaster struck, 16-year-old Melda Adtas was found alive in the southern Turkish city of Antakya.
Her overjoyed father was in tears and the grieving nation cheered an agonizingly rare piece of good news.
“My dear, my dear!” he called out as rescuers pulled the teen out of the rubble and the watching crowd broke into applause.
The 7.8-magnitude quake struck early Monday as people slept, in a region where many had already suffered loss and displacement due to Syria’s civil war.
Top aid officials were planning to visit affected areas with World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths both announcing trips.
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, traveled to strife-torn Aleppo, Syria.
“Communities struggling after years of fierce fighting are now crippled by the earthquake,” Spoljaric tweeted.
“As this tragic event unfolds, people’s desperate plight must be addressed.”
Aid reaches rebel area
An aid convoy crossed the Turkish border into rebel-held northwestern Syria on Thursday, the first delivery into the area since the quake, an official at the Bab al-Hawa crossing said.
The crossing is the only way UN assistance can reach civilians without going through areas controlled by Syrian government forces.
A decade of civil war and Syrian-Russian aerial bombardment had already destroyed hospitals, collapsed the economy, and prompted electricity, fuel and water shortages.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the Security Council to authorize the opening of new cross-border humanitarian aid points between Turkey and Syria.
Four million people living in the rebel-held areas have had to rely on the Bab al-Hawa crossing as part of an aid operation authorized by the UN Security Council nearly a decade ago.
“This is the moment of unity, it’s not a moment to politicize or to divide but it is obvious that we need massive support,” Guterres said.
Freezing temperatures
Temperatures in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, located near the epicenter of the quake, plunged to minus three degrees Celsius (26 degrees Fahrenheit) early on Friday.
Despite the cold, thousands of families had to spend the night in cars and makeshift tents—too scared or banned from returning to their homes.
Parents walked the streets of the city carrying their children in blankets because it was warmer than sitting in a tent.
Gyms, mosques, schools, and some stores have opened at night. But beds are scarce and thousands spend the nights in cars with engines running to provide heat.
“I fear for anyone who is trapped under the rubble in this,” said Melek Halici, who wrapped her 2-year-old daughter in a blanket as they watched rescuers working into the night.
The quiet is agonizing
Monday’s quake was the largest Turkey has seen since 1939, when 33,000 people died in the eastern Erzincan province.
Officials and medics said 18,342 people had died in Turkey and 3,377 in Syria from Monday’s tremor, bringing the confirmed total to 21,719.
Experts fear the number will continue to rise sharply.
Anger has mounted over the government’s handling of the disaster.
“People who didn’t die from the earthquake were left to die in the cold,” Hakan Tanriverdi said in Adiyaman province, one of the areas hardest hit.
On a visit to the area, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted there had been “shortcomings” in the government’s handling of the disaster.
In the devastated Turkish town of Nurdagi, close to the epicenter, emergency workers using drones and heat detecting monitors ordered silence when a potential survivor was found.
“The quiet is agonizing. We just don’t know what to expect,” Emre, a local resident, said as he waited next to one block on a main road into the town.
Relief pledges
Dozens of nations have pledged to help. The World Bank said it would give $1.78 billion in aid to Turkey to help relief and recovery efforts.
Immediate assistance of $780 million will be offered from two existing projects in Turkey, said the bank, while an added $1 billion in operations is being prepared to support affected people.
In addition to a staggering human toll, the quake’s economic cost appears likely to exceed $2 billion and could surpass $4 billion, Fitch Ratings said.