Two prominent Turkish airlines have announced a free-of-cost evacuation drive to help those affected by the earthquake to leave the affected region and get to a safer location. Turkish Airlines and Pegasus Airlines are helping the survivors reach Istanbul, Ankara and Antalya where college and university hostels and tourist resorts have been reserved for the affected people.
Several survivors from Gaziantep, Nurdagi and Hatai have already left for safer locations, while many more have gathered at the Gaziantep airport waiting to fly out.
Meanwhile, rescuers continued to pull out more survivors from the rubble on Sunday, nearly a week after one of the worst earthquakes to hit Turkey and Syria. Turkish authorities are working to maintain order across the disaster zone and have started legal action against contractors over building collapses.
The toll from both countries has surpassed 33,000 and is expected to rise further. It was the deadliest quake in Turkey since 1939.
In Antakya in southern Turkey, business owners emptied their shops to prevent merchandise from being stolen by looters. Residents and aid workers who came from other cities cited worsening security conditions, with widespread accounts of businesses and collapsed homes being robbed.
President Tayyip Erdogan, who is preparing for national elections, has said the government will take strict action against looters.
In Syria, the rebel-held northwest is the worst hit where several people have been left homeless once again after being displaced several times by a decade-old civil war. The region has received little aid compared to government-held areas.
“We have so far failed the people in north-west Syria,” United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths tweeted from the Turkey-Syria border. Worryingly, only a single crossing is open for UN aid supplies on the border.
“They rightly feel abandoned,” Griffiths said, adding that he was focused on addressing that swiftly.
It has been more than six days after the first quake struck, but rescuers are still making miraculous rescues, pulling out people alive from the rubble. A team of Chinese rescuers and Turkish firefighters saved 54-year-old Syrian Malik Milandi after he survived 156 hours in the rubble in Antakya.
A father and daughter, a toddler and a 10-year-old girl were among other survivors pulled from the ruins Sunday. However, the window for finding more survivors is nearing an end.
Action against contractors
The quality of buildings in Turkey is being several questioned in the aftermath of the quake. Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said 131 suspects had so far been identified as responsible for the collapse of some of the thousands of buildings in the 10 affected provinces.
“We will follow this up meticulously until the necessary judicial process is concluded, especially for buildings that suffered heavy damage and buildings that caused deaths and injuries,” he said.
Many people and opposition politicians have slammed the government, accusing it of slow and inadequate relief efforts early on. Critics have questioned why the army, which played a key role after a 1999 earthquake, was not brought in sooner.
Erdogan has acknowledged problems, such as the challenge of delivering aid despite damaged transport links, but said the situation had been brought under control.
(With inputs from agencies)
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