Death toll tops 15,000 in Turkey-Syria quake as hope for survivors fades

Ankara: The death toll from Monday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake, that struck Turkey and Syria, has climbed above 15,000, according to authorities, as rescue workers continued to pull living people from the toppled buildings. 

As per officials and medics, 12,391 people had died in Turkey and 2,992 in Syria, bringing the confirmed total to 15,383. Tens of thousands more were injured.

Rescue teams in Turkey and Syria have been searching for signs of life from an untold number of people trapped in the rubble in freezing weather.

Teams from more than two dozen countries, including Pakistan, have joined tens of thousands of local emergency personnel in the effort. 

Experts said the survival window for those trapped under the rubble or otherwise unable to obtain basic necessities was closing rapidly. At the same time, they said it was too soon to abandon hope.

But the scale of destruction from five back-to-back tremors was so immense and spread over such a wide area that many people were still awaiting help.

Some of the heaviest destruction occurred near the quake's epicentre between Kahramanmaras and Gaziantep, where entire city blocks lay in ruins.

Turkey said almost 3,000 buildings had collapsed in seven different provinces—including public hospitals.

In Syria, authorities reported damage across the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartus, where Russia is leasing a naval facility. 

A famous mosque, dating back to the 13th century, partially collapsed in the province of Maltaya, where a 14-story building with 28 apartments that housed 92 people collapsed. 

Social media posts showed a 2,200-year-old hilltop castle built by Roman armies in Gaziantep lying in ruins, its walls partially turned to rubble.

Notably, the devastation occurred in one of the longest continuously inhabited areas on the planet within the so-called Fertile Crescent, which has witnessed the emergence of different civilisations from the Hittites to the Ottomans.