Death toll crosses 24,000 due to earthquake in Turkey and Syria

Even as rescue operations are underway in earthquake-hit Turkey and Syria, the death toll has exceeded 24,000. The winter freeze has also stirred the suffering of nearly a million people who are believed to be in urgent need of food. The epicenter of the earthquake, the eastern city in Turkey, Kahramanmaras, with the largest number of victims. The city was filled with people already displaced by the war, the report said.

According to the UN, at least 8,70,000 people in the two countries are currently in urgent need of warm meals. The UN said that up to 5.3 million people may have been made homeless in Syria alone. Sivanka Dhanapala, the Syrian representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said the number was huge; Dhanapala added that the tragedy affected those already suffering from mass displacement.

Despite the harsh conditions, rescuers continue to search; the stories of those who were rescued alive are a silver lining in a rather bleak situation. Pregnant woman Zahide Kaya was pulled alive from the wreckage after nearly 115 hours in the Nurdagi region of Turkey. Her daughter Kubra (6) was rescued from the wreckage a few hours before her mother, who was taken to hospital for treatment.

Xinhua news agency reported that a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Turkey's southern Kahramanmaras province at 4:17 a.m. local time, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck southern Gaziantep province shortly after, and a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Kahramanmaras at 1:24 pm local time.