Massive rescue operations continue in Turkey and Syria as the death toll soared to 24,000 from Monday’s devastating earthquakes. At least 20,665 were killed, and 80,088 others were injured across ten provinces in Turkey. The death toll in Syria late on Friday climbed to 3,553 people, 1,387 in regime-run areas and 2,166 in the opposition-controlled territories.
“We can feel the smell of the dead bodies all around. We have seen several bodies being taken out, and many people are still missing,” said Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Kahramanmaras.
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) has said that nearly 93,000 victims have been evacuated from the quake zone in southern Turkey and that more than 166,000 personnel were involved in the rescue and relief efforts.
At least 870,000 people urgently needed food in the two countries after the quake, which has made up to 5.3 million people homeless in Syria alone, the United Nations warned.
Those in dire need of hot food in the region’s bitterly cold winter conditions include 284,000 newly displaced people in Syria and 590,000 people in Turkey, including 45,000 refugees and 545,000 internally displaced people.
“For the thousands of people affected by the earthquakes, food is one of the top needs right now and our priority is to get it to the people who need it fast,” WFP Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Corinne Fleischer said in a statement.
