Turkey winds down eathquake rescue operations

Visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announces $US100m ($145m) in fresh humanitarian aid.

Collapsed buildings are demolished in southeastern Hatay, Turkey, on Sunday. Picture: AFP

Turkey says rescue efforts following this month devastating earthquake have ended in all but two provinces, as visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $US100m ($145m) in fresh humanitarian aid.

The 7.8-magnitude tremor that struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6 has killed more than 46,000 people, with the likelihood of finding survivors two weeks on remote.

The head of Turkey’s disaster agency, Yunus Sezer, said search and rescue efforts had been completed in all provinces apart from Hatay and Kahramanmaras, the earthquake’s epicentre. They were continuing at about 40 buildings in the provinces on the 14th day, said Mr Sezer, but he ­expected the number to fall by Monday.

The agency also said Turkey’s death toll had risen to 41,020 by Sunday night. The UN and Syrian government said more than 5800 people died in Syria, pushing the total toll to more than 46,000.

Mr Blinken met members of the White Helmets rescue group, which operates in rebel-held areas of Syria.

The winding-down of rescue operations came as Mr Blinken ­arrived in Turkey to show solidarity with a NATO ally and ­announce a new aid package worth $US100m.

Washington’s top diplomat met his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu at Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, through which the US has shipped aid. Mr Blinken then accompanied Mr Cavusoglu in a helicopter to view the damage wrought by the disaster in Hatay province.

The new aid “will be moving soon – sadly, it’s less about search and rescue but long-term recovery,” Mr Blinken said. “This is going to be a long-term effort. It’s going to take a massive effort to rebuild but we’re committed to supporting that effort.”

Washington has now contributed $US185m in assistance to Turkey and Syria, he added.

The trip had been planned ­before the earthquake, the worst natural disaster to hit Turkey in its post-Ottoman history.

The White Helmets group tweeted that they had met Mr Blinken in southern Turkey to ­discuss “the response to the ­earthquake in NW #Syria”, the ­humanitarian situation, ways to support affected civilians, and mechanisms for achieving early recovery. The group’s deputy ­director, Farouk Habib, told Mr Blinken he was grateful for US support after the quake, while the American offered condolences and commended the rescuers’ “heroic efforts”.

“The United States is proud to support you and other organisations providing lifesaving aid in response to this tragedy,” he tweeted

In the devastated southeastern city of Antakya, three bodies were retrieved from one building, with a woman still thought to be inside, an official briefed on the recovery effort said on condition of anonymity. The smell of decaying bodies and a cloud of dust hung in the air at the recovery site just off ­Republic Ave in the city’s northwest. An excavator picked through the wreckage in front of the four-floor apartment building, whose front had been ripped away by the earthquake.

Husseyin Yavuz said in Antakya that he had been waiting days to find his cousin’s body under the rubble and insisted the search ­operations should continue. “We’ve been here since the day of the earthquake. With God’s help, we still have hope,” he said.

Sitting next to Yavuz, Adile Dilmet was on the verge of tears as she described waiting outside in the cold for more than a week as the authorities banned the population from entering their homes.

But she said people were also told to empty their houses before the buildings were demolished, and called for the bodies to be ­recovered first. “We’re suffering here. What are we going to do?”

The schedule for Mr Blinken’s visit – his first to Turkey since taking office in 2021 – included meeting officials co-ordinating the delivery of US aid and seeing the humanitarian effort under way in Hatay. US-Turkey relations have been strained in recent years, but Washington has since viewed Ankara as helpful for its mediatory role between Russia and Ukraine since Moscow’s invasion last year.

Mr Blinken was due to talk to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday night, where two issues were likely to be high on the agenda.

Turkey wants to buy F-16 fighter jets but the sale is being blocked in the US congress due to concerns over Turkey’s human rights record and threats to neighbouring Greece. Mr Blinken was also likely to bring up Turkey’s refusal to ratify Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership applications.FP