Kahramanmaras [Turkey], February 11 (ANI): Rescuers pulled out children on Friday (local time) from the rubble of the Turkey-Syria earthquake as the toll crossed 24,000, reported The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH).
The confirmed death toll from the deadliest quake in the region in two decades stood at more than 24,000 across southern Turkey and northwest Syria four days after it hit.
Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said authorities should have reacted faster to this week’s huge earthquake.
“Although we have the largest search and rescue team in the world right now, it is a reality that search efforts are not as fast as we wanted them to be,” he said.
With anger simmering over delays in the delivery of aid and getting the rescue effort underway, the disaster is likely to play into the election, if it goes ahead.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of Turkey’s main opposition party, criticised the government’s response.
Hundreds of thousands more people have been left homeless and short of food in bleak winter conditions and leaders in both countries have faced questions about their response, reported SMH.
The United Nations warned that at least 870,000 people urgently needed hot meals across Turkey and Syria. In Syria alone, up to 5.3 million people may have been made homeless.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made his first reported trip to affected areas since the quake, visiting a hospital in Aleppo with his wife Asma, state media reported.