Quake latest: deaths top 24 000; rescuers race against time

The death toll from earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria surpassed 24 000 as rescue workers continue the search for survivors.

After 122 hours, a 70-year-old woman was evacuated alive from the wreckage of an apartment building in the southeastern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras. Tens of thousands of people were still missing. The number of injured in Turkey is over 80 000, according to the country’s disaster management authority.

Turkish soldiers started patrolling parts of the quake zone against plundering and theft.

Miracle survivor (5:48 a.m.)

After 122 hours, a 70-year-old woman was evacuated alive from the wreckage of an apartment building toppled by the earthquake in the southeastern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Soldiers patrol (5:30 a.m.)

Turkish soldiers have started patrolling the streets where banks and jewellery shops are located in Hatay, one of the worst hit provinces, Fox TV reported.

Death toll surpasses 24 000 (2:40 a.m)

The number of dead in Turkey and Syria rose to 24 457 according to Turkish officials and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which uses a network of activists on the ground. Tens of thousands of people were still missing.

The number of injured in Turkey is over 80,000, according to the country’s disaster management authority.

Turkey denies damage to Dams (1:57 a.m.)

Agriculture and Forestry Minister Vahit Kirisci denied allegations that the Yarseli dam in the quake-stricken Hatay province was damaged, adding that he would inspect the dams in the area on Saturday.

1 Million survivors in shelters (1:09 a.m.)

More than 1 million quake survivors have been moved into temporary shelters, Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay said. Nearly 200,000 people have been evacuated from the quake zone to the west of the country, he said.

Credit-card payment rules eased (9:24 p.m.)

Turkish banking regulator BDDK said the minimum monthly credit-card payment ratio would be lowered to 20% for all affected in the quake zone. The ratio required to pay — based on credit card limit — was as high as 40% before the decision.

Banks will make their own decisions regarding cards closed to use over failure to pay the minimum amount required. They will be able to push back card payments, including the minimum amounts.

The decisions will be effective until Jan. 1, 2024.

Syrian aid becomes political pawn (8:32 p.m.)

Aid deliveries to Syrian victims are being hampered by wrangling between rival powers in the country’s more than decade-long war.

While supplies have flowed into heavily damaged regions of Turkey, in Syria the areas hit are mainly controlled by anti-government forces that President Bashar al Assad has been battling since 2011. That has raised tensions over aid provision that have embroiled Turkey, Russia and the US and Europe amid longstanding international sanctions on Assad and his government for atrocities committed since the start of the conflict, leaving quake victims as pawns in the wider struggle over the Middle East state.  in NPLs and other humanitarian costs.”

Cost of rebuilding (6:21 p.m.)

“It is very hard to put numbers on total cost at this point” but the estimated reconstruction cost of collapsed and damaged buildings in Turkey is between $3 billion to $5 billion, Bank of America’s Turkey economist Zumrut Imamoglu said in a note. “At least another $2-3 billion needed for supporting impacted people,” according to the report.

“There are many other costs associated with the disaster such as repair of energy and transport network, destroyed business activity, increase in NPLs and other humanitarian costs.”

Erdogan faces backlash over late quake response (3:17 p.m.)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the initial state response had been slowed by the fact that emergency personnel and their families were themselves trapped under collapsed buildings, highlighting the massive scale of the destruction.

Critics say the government’s delay in sending cranes and other heavy machinery to lift slabs of concrete missed a critical window of opportunity to save people. Experts fear tens of thousands more people are buried under the rubble, meaning the number of fatalities is likely to keep rising.

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