Death toll from Turkey and Syria earthquakes tops 21,000 and continues to rise

Damascus, February 10 (RHC)-- The death toll from Monday’s devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria has topped 21,000 and continues to rise, as search-and-rescue crews warn the chance of finding survivors in the rubble is rapidly dwindling.  Survivors face unfathomable conditions — without shelter, heat, food, water or medical care. The first U.N. aid has finally reached northwest Syria three days after the quakes. 

Rescue efforts there have been complicated by damage and displacement from 12 years of war and harsh sanctions. 

Bob Holden, the World Health Organization’s incident manager for the earthquakes, told reporters: “We have got a large, unfolding and huge-scale disaster unfolding on us, with large geographical spread.  We’ve got a lot of people who have survived now out in the open and in worsening and horrific conditions.  We’ve got major disruption to basic water supplies.  We’ve got major disruption to fuel, electricity supplies, communication supplies — the basics of life.  We are in real danger of seeing a secondary disaster, which may cause harm to more people than the initial disaster, if we don’t move with the same pace and intensity as we are doing on the search and rescue side.”

Even before Monday’s earthquakes, the United Nations estimated over 14 million people inside Syria needed humanitarian assistance, and more than 12 million struggled to find enough food to eat.