Rescues dwindle in Turkey after earthquake as aid trickles into Syria

KAHRAMANMARAS/ANTAKYA: Two people were reported to have been pulled alive from the rubble in Turkey on Thursday, more than 10 days after a massive earthquake hit the region, but such rescues have become increasingly rare, leaving anger to smoulder as hope dies.

A 17-year-old girl was extracted from the ruins of a collapsed apartment bloc in Turkey's southeastern Kahramanmaras province, broadcaster TRT Haber reported, 248 hours since the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck in the dead of night on Feb. 6.

Footage showed her being carried away on a stretcher covered with a gold-coloured thermal blanket while an emergency worker held up an intravenous drip.

Around 10 hours later, Neslihan Kilic was rescued.

"We had prepared her grave and we asked the rescue workers to stop digging as we feared they would damage the remaining corpses under the rubble. Moments later, her voice was heard from under the ruins of the building," Kilic's brother-in-law told broadcaster CNN Turk.

Kilic's husband and two children are still missing.

The quake killed at least 36,187 people in southern Turkey, while authorities in neighbouring Syria have reported 5,800 deaths - a figure that has changed little in days.

International aid agencies are stepping up efforts to help the millions left homeless, many of whom are sleeping in tents, mosques, schools or in cars.

The United Nations on Thursday appealed for more than $1 billion in funds for the Turkish relief operation, just two days after launching a $400 million appeal for Syrians.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in his first televised comments since the quake hit, said the response to the disaster required more resources than the government had available.

Neither Turkey nor Syria have said how many people are still missing.

U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths, who visited Turkey last week, said the people have "experienced unspeakable heartache," adding: "We must stand with them in their darkest hour and ensure they receive the support they need."

For families still waiting to retrieve lost relatives, there is growing anger over what they see as corrupt building practices and deeply flawed urban development that resulted in thousands of homes and businesses disintegrating.

"I have two children. No others. They are both under this rubble," said Sevil Karaabdüloğlu, as excavators tore down what remained of a high-end block of flats in the southern Turkish city of Antakya, where her two daughters had lived.

Around 650 people are believed to have died when the Renaissance Residence building collapsed.

"We rented this place as an elite place, a safe place. How do I know that the contractor built it this way? ... Everyone is looking to make a profit. They're all guilty," she said.

Some 200 km (125 miles) away, around 100 people gathered at a small cemetery in the town of Pazarcik, to bury a family of four -- Ismail and Selin Yavuzatmaca and their two young daughters -- who all died in the Renaissance building.

Turkey has promised to investigate anyone suspected of responsibility for the collapse of buildings and has ordered the detention of more than 100 suspects, including developers.

AID CONVOYS

Across the border in Syria, the earthquake slammed a region divided and devastated by 12 years of civil war.

The Syrian government says the death toll in territory it controls is 1,414. More than 4,000 fatalities have been reported in the rebel-held northwest, but rescuers say nobody has been found alive there since Feb. 9.

The aid effort has been hampered by the conflict and many people in the northwest feel abandoned as supplies almost invariably head to other parts of the sprawling disaster zone.

Deliveries from Turkey were severed completely in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, when a route used by the United Nations was temporarily blocked. Earlier this week, Assad granted approval for two additional crossings to be opened.

As of Thursday, 119 U.N. trucks had gone through the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam crossings since the earthquake, a spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told Reuters.

In southeast Turkey, heavy machinery was trying to clear mounds of debris that block numerous towns and cities.

U.S. bank JPMorgan estimated that the direct cost of the destruction of physical structures in Turkey could amount to 2.5% of growth domestic product, or $25 billion.

Many survivors have fled the disaster zones, but some have decided to stay, despite the dreadful conditions.

"We spend our days with bread, soup and meals as part of the aid sent by people. We don't have a life any more. We are afraid," said Mustafa Akan in Adiyaman, who sleeps outdoors and stays warm by burning wood in a bucket.