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.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
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.”
Read more:
Man travels from south Wales to disaster-struck region to find family
Osmaniye cries out for help as rescuers search for victims under rubble
Love Island star Ekin-Su eager to volunteer in relief effort
‘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
Body of missing rabbi Zvi Kogan found in UAE – as Israeli PM says he was murdered in ‘antisemitic terror incident’
The COP29 climate talks have reached a last ditch deal on cash for developing countries, pulling the summit back from the brink of collapse after a group of countries stormed out of a negotiating room earlier.
The slew of deals finally signed off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Azerbaijan includes one that proved hardest of all – one about money.
Eventually the more than 190 countries in Baku agreed a target for richer polluting countries such as the UK, EU and Japan to drum up $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations both curb and adapt to climate change.
It is a far cry from the $1.3trn experts say is needed, and from the $500bn that vulnerable countries like Uganda had said they would be willing to accept.
But in the end they were forced to, knowing they could not afford to live without it, nor wait until next year to try again, when a Donald Trump presidency would make things even harder.
Bolivia’s lead negotiator Diego Pacheco called it an “insult”, while the Marshall Islands’ Tina Stege said it was “not nearly enough, but it’s a start”.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said: “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.
“No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. So this is no time for victory laps.”
The funding deal was clinched more than 24 hours into overtime, and against what felt like all the odds.
The talks were rocked from the start by the incoming presidency of climate denier Mr Trump, the moment Argentina’s team were recalled back to Buenos Aires by their right-wing president and a controversial letter that sent shockwaves through the United Nations.
Pic: AP
The fraught two weeks of negotiations pitted the anger of developing countries who are footing the bill for more dangerous weather that they did little to cause, against the tight public finances of rich countries.
A relieved Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, climate envoy for Panama, said there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Just hours ago, the talks almost fell apart as furious vulnerable nations stormed out of negotiations in frustration over that elusive funding goal.
They were also angry with oil and gas producing countries, who stood accused of trying to dilute aspects of the deal on cutting fossil fuels.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Climate-vulnerable nations storm out of talks
The UN talks work on consensus, meaning everyone has to agree for a deal to fly.
A row over how to follow up on last year’s pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels” was left unresolved and punted into next year, following objections from Chile and Switzerland for being too weak.
A draft deal simply “reaffirmed” the commitment but did not dial up the pressure in the way the UK, EU, island states and many others here wanted.
Saudi Arabia fought the hardest against any step forward on cutting fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change that is intensifying floods, drought and fires around the world.
Governments did manage to strike a deal on carbon markets at COP29, which has been 10 years in the making and will allow countries to trade emissions cuts.
‘Not everything we wanted’
👉 Tap here to follow the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts 👈
The UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said the deal is “not everything we or others wanted”, but described it as a “step forward”.
“It’s a deal that will drive forward the clean energy transition, which is essential for jobs and growth in Britain and for protecting us all against the worsening climate crisis,” he added.
“Today’s agreement sends the signal that the clean energy transition is unstoppable.
“It is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century and through our championing of it we can help crowd in private investment.”
Protesters at the summit in Baku. Pic: AP
Read more:
Azerbaijan president hails oil and gas as ‘gift from God’
UN climate summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’
The Azerbaijan team leading COP29 said: “Every hour of the day, we have pulled people together. Every inch of the way, we have pushed for the highest common denominator.
“We have faced geopolitical headwinds and made every effort to be an honest broker for all sides.”
At least 20 people have been killed and 66 injured in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.
Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dig through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.
The attack destroyed an eight-storey residential building and badly damaged several others around it in the Basta neighbourhood at 4am (2am UK time) on Saturday.
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut
The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack and has not commented on the casualties.
At least four bombs were dropped in the attack – the fourth targeting the city centre this week.
A separate drone strike in the southern port city of Tyre this morning killed two people and injured three, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The victims were Palestinian refugees from the nearby al Rashidieh camp who were out fishing, according to Mohammed Bikai, spokesperson for the Fatah Palestinian faction in the Tyre area.
Israel’s military warned residents today in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs that they were near Hezbollah facilities, which the army would target in the near future. The warning, posted on X, told people to evacuate at least 500 metres away.
The army said that over the past day it had conducted intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. It said it hit several command centres and weapons storage facilities.
Pic: AP
Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.
Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, at least 3,670 people have been killed in Israeli attacks there, with more than 15,400 wounded.
It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.
Read more:
No 10 indicates Netanyahu would be arrested
‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike
Meanwhile, six people, including three children and two women, were killed in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.
Some 44,176 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.
Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports8 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway