Last Updated: February 07, 2023, 17:45 IST
A UN official said thousands of children may be among the dead. (Photo: Twitter)
Thousands of buildings were toppled, hospitals and schools wrecked and tens of thousands of people were injured or left homeless in several Turkish and Syrian cities
A woman in earthquake-hit Syria reportedly gave birth to a child under the rubble of her collapsed home. However, the mother did not survive while the child was rescued. The video from the spot, where a man was seen rescuing the child, is being widely shared on Twitter.
A Twitterati shared the video with the caption, “Mother’s Power”.
ALSO READ: Turkey or Türkiye? News18 Explains Puzzle Behind the Earthquake-hit Country’s Name
The death toll following a major earthquake in Turkey and in neighbouring northwest Syria reached over 5,100 on Tuesday, while hundreds are still believed to be under the debris as rescuers dig through the rubble.
Thousands of buildings were toppled, hospitals and schools wrecked and tens of thousands of people were injured or left homeless in several Turkish and Syrian cities.
A UN official said thousands of children may be among the dead.
Harsh winter weather hampered search efforts and the delivery of aid and made the plight of the homeless even more miserable. Some areas were without fuel and electricity.
Aid officials voiced particular concern about the situation in Syria, already afflicted by a humanitarian crisis after nearly 12 years of civil war.
Meanwhile, the flow of critical UN aid from Turkey to northwest Syria has temporarily halted due to damage to roads and other logistical issues related to the deadly earthquake that struck the two countries on Monday.
Even before the quake struck in the early hours of Monday, the United Nations estimated that more than 4 million people in northwest Syria, many displaced by the war and living in camps, depended on cross-border aid.
Those needs have now increased, a top U.N. aid official said, making the hundreds of trucks worth of food, medical and other assistance that enter Syria via Turkey each month all the more vital.
“Some roads are broken, some are inaccessible. There are logistical issues that need to be worked through,” Madevi Sun-Suon, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA), told Reuters.
“We don’t have a clear picture of when it will resume,” she said.
(With Reuters inputs)
Read all the Latest News here
For all the latest world News Click Here
