Turkey-Syria earthquake: Left terrified and freezing, homeless victims travel for days to seek refuge
Tens of thousands of people have been left homeless after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated southern Turkey and northern Syria on Monday.
People have taken refuge in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centres after their homes were destroyed in the disaster.
Some 1,500 people are living in hastily erected tents in Sanliurfa, one of Turkey’s cities hit hardest by the earthquake.
Turkey-Syria earthquake – live updates
One survivor told Kay Burley on Sky News that he and his family spent two days in the rain and freezing conditions before reaching the makeshift shelters.
Mahmood and his five young children are among 25 people sleeping on the floor in a small white tent as aftershocks tremble through the area.
The scene in Hatay Antakya
“There was nothing left standing” in his hometown, he said, adding that they were surrounded by rubble.
“We were terrified of staying there, it was total devastation so we can’t stay there. It is horrible.
“Everyone is too scared to go into apartment blocks and houses. No one would dare.”
He said he was thankful to have some aid from the authorities, but there was no electricity or heating – they do not know how long they will be there.
Turkey Syria quake: A special programme. Watch live on Sky News at 3pm.
Mahmood’s nephew, holding his baby daughter, explained she cried and was unable to sleep due to the cold.
“She’s not been able to sleep at night, she’s crying all the time because of the cold. The situation is very tough, very hard.”
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Several children saved from rubble after an earthquake struck Turkey and Syria
‘We will die freezing from the cold’
Elsewhere, a three-year-old boy was among the people pulled from the wreckage of collapsed buildings in Turkey last night, as rescue crews toiled across the country and its neighbour, Syria, 48 hours after the quake struck.
Arif Kaan was trapped beneath concrete slabs and rebar in Kahramanmaras in sub-zero temperatures while rescuers cut the debris from around him, all the while trying not to trigger another collapse.
His father, Ertugrul Kisi, sobbed as Arif was pulled free and rushed to an ambulance.
“For now, the name of hope in Kahramanmaras is Arif Kaan,” a Turkish television reporter proclaimed.
People sit next to a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras
But with one day left in what experts have called the “critical” first 72 hours, these moments of hope are expected to occur less and less frequently.
And once survivors have been rescued they face another crisis – the cold.
Many in Turkey have had to sleep in cars, outside or in government shelters.
“We don’t have a tent, we don’t have a heating stove, we don’t have anything,” said Aysan Kurt, 27.
“Our children are in bad shape. We are all getting wet under the rain and our kids are out in the cold.
“We did not die from hunger or the earthquake, but we will die freezing from the cold.”
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‘Terrifying experience’
Canan Severoglu, 40, was in the heart of the Turkish city of Gaziantep when the earthquake struck.
The director of GEO, an educational company, was on the 10th floor of the Divan hotel when the tremors began. She woke up at 4.15am with what she thought was a “nightmare”.
“I couldn’t even stand up. It was such a terrifying experience. People ran down the stairs barefoot and in pyjamas and out of the hotel. It was snowing and we were so cold.”
Canan Severoglu was in the Turkish city of Gaziantep when the quake struck
Ms Severoglu got into her car and welcomed in strangers so they could stay out of the blistering conditions. She spoke to one lady who experienced the Izmit earthquake in 1999, who said this one was much stronger.
She drove out of the epicentre to a country house close to Gaziantep airport.
“In one room there were 30 people. Children were so scared and are still shaking.”
Today, she went back to the centre and saw the collapsed buildings.
“It’s so scary as I have friends in those buildings. We prayed in front of them – we just wanted to hear a voice.”
‘Where are the food trucks?’
Many people in the Turkish-Syrian disaster zone have been sleeping in their cars or in the streets under blankets, fearful of returning to buildings shaken by the huge quake.
Families sit next to a destroyed building in Antakya, southern Turkey
One woman in the southern Turkish city of Antakya, where dozens of covered bodies are lined up on the ground outside a hospital, said she had not seen any rescue teams.
“Where are the tents, where are food trucks?” Melek, 64, said.
Aysan Kurt, 27, who has also lost his home, said: “We haven’t seen any food distribution here, unlike previous disasters in our country. We survived the earthquake, but we will die here due to hunger or cold.”
He added: “We don’t have a tent, we don’t have a heating stove, we don’t have anything. Our children are in bad shape. We are all getting wet under the rain and our kids are out in the cold.
“We did not die from hunger or the earthquake, but we will die freezing from the cold.”
‘They don’t have enough equipment’
Youssef, 25, is waiting in the hard-hit Syrian city of Aleppo for news of his family. He managed to reach one of his trapped relatives by phone, and could hear several voices despite a bad line.
Members of the Algerian rescue team and Syrian army soldiers search for survivors in Aleppo, Syria
Since then, he has been standing in near-freezing weather by the rubble, unable to get through again.
“I have been waiting for news of my father, my mother, my brother, my sister and her son. Nothing is known about them so far,” he said.
“I talked to them and heard their voices, but unfortunately, as you can see here, they’re very slow at work and they don’t
have enough equipment,” he said of rescue efforts.
World
Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem
South Korea’s constitutional court has confirmed the dismissal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December after declaring martial law.
His decision to send troops onto the streets led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
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The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.
Stock markets around the world fell on Thursday after Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs – with some economists now fearing a recession.
The US president announced tariffs for almost every country – including 10% rates on imports from the UK – on Wednesday evening, sending financial markets reeling.
While the UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the continent’s STOXX Europe 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm, it was American traders who were hit the most.
Trump tariffs latest: US stock markets tumble
All three of the US’s major markets opened to sharp losses on Thursday morning.
The S&P 500 is set for its worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. File pic: AP
By 8.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST), The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 opened with a drop of 4.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.6%.
Compared to their values when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the three markets were down around 5.6%, 8.7% and 14.4%, respectively, according to LSEG.
Worst one-day losses since COVID
As Wall Street trading ended at 9pm in the UK, two indexes had suffered their worst one-day losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 fell 4.85%, the Nasdaq dropped 6%, and the Dow Jones fell 4%.
It marks Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of COVID, and the largest drop for the Dow Jones since June 2020.
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The latest numbers on tariffs
‘Trust in President Trump’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier in the day that Mr Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”.
“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told the broadcaster, adding: “This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”
Later, the US president told reporters as he left the White House that “I think it’s going very well,” adding: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
He later said on Air Force One that the UK is “happy” with its tariff – the lowest possible levy of 10% – and added he would be open to negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.
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How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?
Economist warns of ‘spiral of doom’
The turbulence in the markets from Mr Trump’s tariffs “just left everybody in shock”, Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston, told Reuters.
He added that the economy could go into recession as a result, saying that “a lot of the pain, will probably most acutely be felt in the US and that certainly would weigh on broader global growth as well”.
Meanwhile, chief investment officer at St James’s Place Justin Onuekwusi said that international retaliation is likely, even as “it’s clear countries will think about how to retaliate in a politically astute way”.
He warned: “Significant retaliation could lead to a tariff ‘spiral of doom’ that could be the growth shock that drags us into recession.”
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It comes as the UK government published a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs – including golf clubs and golf balls.
Running to more than 400 pages, the list is part of a four-week-long consultation with British businesses and suggests whiskey, jeans, livestock, and chemical components.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the US president had launched a “new era” for global trade and that the UK will respond with “cool and calm heads”.
It also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 25% tariff on all American-imported vehicles that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
He added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy.”
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