Earthquake-hit Syria to open more border crossings for aid delivery – BBC News

 

 BBC World News

seven days after powerful twin

earthquakes Turkish rescue workers say

some survivors are still being pulled

from the rubble of collapsed buildings

but the number of confirmed deaths has

now risen above 37 000 and it's expected

that the final total will be much higher

United Nations officials say the relief

effort is now being focused on caring

for the homeless our chief International

correspondent Liz dusette is close to

the quake's epicenter in southern turkey

just an ordinary Street until last Monday

4 17 A.M

everything shook the strongest

earthquake in a century

smashing life

as they knew it

says almost nothing left

almost here

waiting on garden chairs in front row seats

a street turned into a cemetery their

loved ones buried somewhere

in this Rubble scenes are absolutely breath taking 

but it's also what  we can't convey it's

the the dust and the stench the stench

of deaths so many bodies buried under

the rubble

right now they are pulling your body out

might be my brother or it might be

someone else they'll bring the body out

and we will identify it

quad waits for the bodies of everyone in

his family who lived here

40 people in all did you ever fear that

you'd see a day like this

one week on the body bags keep coming

out

time killing a family's prayer her loved

one was still alive

the un's top eight official praised this

rescue effort more than 100 countries

sent help but there is concern about

what's yet to come

the biggest fear now is when the awful

day comes when we learn how many people

really died and the speculation as you

know is

is frightening and just to think that

under those

mountains of rubble

could be these many many people who are

now dead

so many are asking did so many have to

die turkey's President erdogan says they

couldn't prepare for a Calamity like

this

but this woman insists that

herster could have been saved

only one politician came here and showed

his face where are the rest I've been

here since the first day I dug people

out with my bare hands

Builders are being blamed too

some structures collapsed and others

didn't

this is

our faith says this life is a test we

believe that our lessons here for

everyone

we will be stronger after this

one week on the hope of finding anyone

alive here has all but faded and yet so

many we meet don't just hope they

believe their loved ones are still alive

somewhere under this Rubble

president erdogan is promising everyone

a new home within a year that's

optimistic it is the memory of everyone

and everything that was here

that will live on

in those who survive

it's rescue turns to

there will also be a reckoning

for this wrecking of so many lives

at least to set BBC News caraman marash

Syria's president Bashar al-assad has

told U.N officials he'll open two more

border crossings so emergency aid can

enter from neighboring turkey after the

devastating earthquakes there last week

as the death toll continues to rise it's

also feared that up to 5 million may

have been made homeless in Syria alone

the situation is complicated by the

ongoing Civil War there with parts of

the country controlled by Rebel Fighters

our correspondent Laura bicker reports

from antakia close to the Syrian border

oh my God

there's a moment of disbelief at seeing

light then comes the smile The Joy at

knowing he's free after 50 hours in

crushing concrete

God is great the crowd chants as they

celebrate saving three-year-old Karam in

idlib last week

his father shielded him from the rubble

but with so few Rescuers on the ground

in Syria both Lee helpless as their

mother and sister fell silent and died

next week

after a while my wife stopped talking

Quran and I were still there I was in a

kneeling down position I was kneeling

over Quran and the rubble was up to my

legs it was all taking too long

the focus is now on keeping the living

alive

survivors have little choice but to find

whatever shelter they can within the

Fallen buildings

we now live on the streets we stay there

and when we feel we're falling asleep we

get in the car that we covered that's

where we sleep

not fully delivered after leaving turkey

the United Nations Aid Chief Martin

Griffiths toured Aleppo in Syria and

said help is coming

but the UN has to find new routes over

the Border if it's to meet the mounting

needs of Millions

[Music]

this Hospital in Northern Syria filmed

by BBC Arabic has had to carry out

multiple amputations on children with

very little equipment

more than three and a half million

citians came to Turkey to escape the

hotters of war in antakia their hopes

that this would be a safe home have been

destroyed

and although this Camp is getting some

help from the UK charity refugees key

supplies are still short

after a decade of trying to lift

themselves out of grinding poverty these

families are having to start again

it's a daily struggle she tells me if

I'm working we are eating if not we're

dependent on the charity of random

people life has become expensive and the

Dignity of those who've had to leave

their homes has been affected our people

have been decimated

as dusk brings freezing temperatures

these families can only hope that Don

will bring them the strength to build

their lives again

Laura Becker BBC News in antakia on the

turkey Syria border

well let's get some more on the

aftermath of the Quake inside turkey

from the BBC's Caroline Davies who joins

us live from iskandarin Carrie we can

see wreckage behind you tell us more

about where you are and what you're

seeing

Celia this used to be the Intensive Care

Unit of one of the hospitals here in

escandarin and as you can see behind me

it is now about a four meter pile of

rubble this was in amongst there you can

see maybe bits of pink paper of white

paper those are medical documents we

also can see surgical gloves there are

there are parts of ambulance beds

hospital beds and we know from The

Rescuers here that they believe there

are about 300 people that were in the

hospital at the time when the earthquake

hit that be a mixture of patients of

medical staff or visitors as well and

they're not entirely certain how many of

those people made it out there is still

an attempt at a rescue effort here we've

spoken to people three different

families who say that there are three

nurses that they believe are still

inside at the moment but they of course

are not certain whether or not they will

have survived it is now over a week on

and there has been heavy machinery here

throughout the morning that we've been

here trying to move some of this Rubble

away a but it is just an incredibly

difficult and very precarious task

trying to find anyone who might still be

inside Kerry one week on are you seeing

any kind of pattern emerging between the

buildings that didn't sustain very much

damage and those that have collapsed

entirely

I think it's a really good question

because when you walk around different

cities particularly as you get closer to

the epicenter it is not the case that

every single building has collapsed some

are still standing with cracked in some

might have partially subsided and some

like this Hospital unit have been

completely destroyed standing just

behind me this is part of the other part

of the hospital that was a more modern

part according to people who live here

this was an older part that had been

renovated and now just to be entirely

clear about what we've seen this morning

we have seen a report on this Hospital

from the health on the health Ministries

website it's from 2012 and it says that

the earthquake report for this building

came back negative now that was in 2012

over 10 years ago people here have been

sharing that report and have been

getting increasingly angry at the fact

that this was known according to this

report to not be a building that could

withstand an earthquake that this was

something that had already been flagged

over a decade ago and and yet now there

are many many lives that have been lost

in the rubble here people who have

families are still waiting hoping that

there might be some some form of news

but there is real anger growing that

there were certain things that had been

flagged up in cases like this but

nothing had necessarily been done

speaking of anger we're also hearing of

discontent among some in Turkey who are

saying that they don't think that Aid is

being distributed equally are you

hearing anything about that

I think that there are certain areas

that seem to have managed to get sort of

International Rescue efforts but yes as

people have been talking to us some

people feel that

um that they haven't seen enough Aid

reaching them that many people here for

example had said that they had in fact

they they say claimed that they paid for

these construction

manufacturers these Machinery to come in

to try to help with the rescue effort

they said that they hadn't seen people

coming to help from authorities either

now as I've been driving through and

walking through these different areas in

these different cities you can see that

there is Aid you can see that there are

the presence of the Turkish authorities

here there are Vans that are giving out

food there are temporary shelters that

are being put up but some people feel

that they have not had enough support

and of course we are now over a week on

many people have spent that amount of

time living outside in these tents with

freezing conditions and many are asking

now what happens next where do we go to

what can we do when we are still not uh

we still don't mind not have homes to go

to but those buildings that are still

standing people feel very nervous about

going back into them because they don't

know whether or not they will be safe

and I think there are many questions

about what happens next

Caroline Davies 

from iskendran in Turkey