Captured victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria that killed more than 9,600 people posted videos on social media in a desperate attempt to escape.
Amid reports of a lack of help for those still lying under the rubble of collapsed buildings following Monday’s 7.8 quake, incredible stories have emerged of how social media has helped rescue those still stranded.
The death toll from the earthquake on Wednesday morning was 7,108, according to Turkey’s civil protection agency.
In Syria, a country already ravaged by 12 years of civil war, the overnight death toll has risen to more than 2,500, according to the Syrian government and emergency medical services operating in the rebel-held northwest.
Boran Kubat, 20, of Turkish broadcaster TRT, was rescued after he posted a video on social media of himself trapped under rubble.
“Please help everyone now,” he pleaded. After he shared his location, his friends saw his call and they rescued him.
In Syria, a boy posted a video of himself covered in dust, trapped under rubble.
“I don’t know if I’m going to die or live,” he said through bloodshot eyes at the sound of a rumble in the background.
The death toll from the quake, which hit at dawn on Monday, followed hours later by another quake of nearly the same magnitude, will continue to rise as families remain trapped under the rubble of tens of thousands of buildings that have collapsed on both sides of the Syrian border. Turkish border.
On Tuesday, the World Health Organization said the death toll could reach 20,000 as rescue efforts continue in the coming days.
In Turkey, many people spent their second night out in the cold, sleeping under blankets in their cars or outside, and some were reportedly afraid to return to their homes for fear they might get cracked or damaged.
“Where are the tents, where are the food trucks?” said Melek, 64, from the southern city of Antakya, adding that she had not seen any rescue teams.
“Unlike previous natural disasters in our country, here we did not see the distribution of food. We survived the earthquake, but we will die here from hunger or cold.”
A man named Firat Yayla took to Instagram to ask for help after being trapped under rubble in the central Antakya region of Turkey’s Hatay province.
“Friends, we are trapped in an earthquake,” he said in the video. “Mother! Are you all right? Mother! Tell me you’re hiding somewhere. Please help!” Al Jazeera reported that he said so.
He later updated his status saying that he was rescued but his mother is still incarcerated.
Another person named Can Türker on Twitter went to the platform pleaded for help when he was locked up on the third floor of a hotel in Antakya with his wife and child and tagged by Turkish authorities.
He later said they were rescued by a friend who “risked his life” to get them out.
“There are many like us waiting to be saved. Please help Khatai,” added Mr. Türker in a second tweet.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said from Hatay that 1,647 people were killed and 6,200 injured in Hatay alone, and that the area suffered the most casualties of all the affected provinces.
The Turkish government has been criticized by Hatay survivors and on social media for not sending appropriate rescue teams to the province quickly enough.
The president’s Office of Public Affairs dismissed the criticism as misinformation late Monday night.
Additional agency reporting
Source: I News
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