CNN
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Security risks brought some search and rescue operations to a halt on Saturday, as the death toll of 7.8 magnitude earthquake Attacks on Syria and Turkey have surpassed 25,000.
Germany and Austria have suspended rescue operations in Turkey citing security concerns.
Meanwhile, rescue efforts in rebel-held areas of northern and northwestern Syria have come to an end, the Syrian Civil Defense volunteer organization, also known as the White Helmets, said on Wednesday. Six announcements.
After 108 hours of searching, the team said they believe there is no one left alive under the rubble.
Syria has been ravaged by civil war since 2011 and 4 million people were dependent on humanitarian aid in the hardest-hit areas of the country controlled by rebels before Monday’s disaster. .
Up to 5.3 million people in Syria may have been affected by the earthquake and need shelter, according to preliminary data from UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency.
However, the country’s political landscape complicates rescue efforts, with some of the hardest hit areas by the internationally sanctioned regime staying out of control. Others are controlled by Turkish and US-backed opposition forces, Kurdish rebels and Sunni Muslim fighters.
It took three days after the earthquake struck for the first UN convoy to pass through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, the only humanitarian aid corridor between Turkey and Syria.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma visited rescue teams and civilians in the affected areas on Saturday, including wounded survivors in a hospital in the city of Latakia.
On Friday, he criticized the lack of humanitarian aid from Western countries, saying they “don’t care about the human condition.” The Syrian government approved the delivery of aid to rebel-held territories on Friday but gave no specific timeline.
According to Caroline Holt, disaster, climate and crisis director at the International Federation of Red Cross, rescue work can take two to three years to complete in Turkey, but between five and 10 year to start in Syria.
Syrian-American actor Jay Abdo expressed his disappointment Saturday, telling CNN: “Earthquakes, they have no borders. So why do borders and politics deprive Syrians of the human rights of the northwest of the country to be rescued?”
He called on the international community to “act immediately” because “there is no time” and “civilians are not receiving any support, aid or attention.”
The director-general of the World Health Organization arrived in the earthquake-ravaged Syrian city of Aleppo on Saturday on a plane carrying more than $290,000 worth of surgical and emergency kits.
According to Belit Tasdemir, the United Nations liaison officer at the AKUT Search and Rescue Association, who is based in Turkey, the level of devastation is “unprecedented”.
He told CNN on Saturday that “freezing” temperatures and “extreme fatigue” began to affect rescuers as they approached the bottom of the rescue window and the probability of finding survivors. become lower.
Some amazing rescues but still offers a glimmer of hope.
Sezai Karabas and her young daughter were found alive in Gaziantep, southern Turkey, 132 hours after the earthquake struck.
A 70-year-old survivor, a woman named Menekse Tabak, was pulled from the rubble in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, 121 hours after the quake struck.
However, search and rescue efforts have also been hampered in Turkey.
Germany’s Federal Technical Assistance Service has suspended rescue and relief work due to security concerns in the Hatay area, the organization said in a statement on Saturday.
German rescue operators, who have been working with the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD), said they “will resume work as soon as AFAD deems the situation has resolved. safe.”
The Austrian military made a similar decision, citing “increasing aggression among groups in Turkey”, but said it would “keep our rescue and recovery forces available”. ready.”
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that looters and other criminals will be punished, and university dormitories will be used as housing for homeless victims. , with online classes.
United Nations aid director Martin Griffiths described the earthquake in southern Turkey and northwestern Syria as the “worst event in 100 years” to hit the areas and said that a “clear plan”. clear” to issue a “call for a three-month campaign” to be set out on Sunday or Monday.
