A dramatic video has captured the moment a survivor was pulled out from underneath the rubble in Turkey following this week’s devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake, which now has a death toll that is the highest worldwide since a 2011 earthquake off Japan triggered a tsunami, killing nearly 20,000 people.
As of Thursday, more than 19,000 have been confirmed dead in Turkey and Syria from Monday’s earthquake, while rescue crews in both countries are working non-stop in hopes of finding more people who have been buried alive under collapsed buildings.
The video taken in the city of Antakya, in the hard-hit Hatay province, shows first responders using a saw to cut away debris before pulling a man out from underneath an apartment.
The man could be heard groaning as he is lifted toward an ambulance that has its lights flashing.
GHANA SOCCER STAR STILL MISSING DESPITE REPORTS HE WAS FOUND IN TURKEY EARTHQUAKE RUBBLE
Footage has captured a survivor of the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake being removed from underneath rubble in Antakya, Turkey, in the hard-hit Hatay province. (@onylm29 via SPECTEE/TMX)
Elsewhere in Antakya, dozens of people were seen scrambling for aid in front of a truck distributing children’s coats and other supplies, according to The Associated Press.
Ahmet Tokgoz, a survivor, called for the government to evacuate people from the devastated region. While many of the tens of thousands who have lost their homes have found shelter in tents, stadiums and other temporary accommodation, others have spent the nights outdoors since Monday’s earthquake.
“Especially in this cold, it is not possible to live here,” he said. “People are warming up around campfires, but campfires can only warm you up so much. … If people haven’t died from being stuck under the rubble, they’ll die from the cold.”
Local residents walk in front of a destroyed building in Nurdagi, southeastern Turkey, on Thursday, Feb. 9. (AP/Petros Giannakouris)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Thursday that the death toll had risen to more than 16,100 in his country, with more than 64,000 injured. On the Syrian side, which includes in government-held and rebel-held areas, of the border, more than 3,100 have been reported dead and more than 5,000 injured.
Visiting regions affected by the quake for a second day on Thursday, Erdogan said the new buildings would be no higher than three or four stories.
The government was working to install temporary container homes as well as caravans to shelter those left homeless, he said after a tour of the city of Gaziantep.
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An aerial view of the al-Tlul village flooded after a devastating earthquake destroyed a river dam in the town of Salqeen near the Turkish border, in the Idlib province of Syria, on Thursday, Feb. 9. (AP/Ghaith Alsayed)
Erdogan said that a state emergency that he declared earlier this week in the 10 provinces affected by the quake would be approved in parliament later on Thursday. The government has said the emergency measure would help facilitate disaster management in those areas.
In Gaziantep, Erdogan said the measure would allow the government to fight looters, “loan sharks” and other groups that he said would aim to exploit the crisis.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
