ANTAKYA, Turkey – Volunteers struggling to seek out ever fewer survivors within the quake-hit Turkish metropolis of Antakya mentioned on Saturday ransacking and hygiene issues have been including to their daunting process.
One resident, looking for a colleague buried in a collapsed constructing, mentioned he witnessed looting within the first days after Monday’s quake earlier than leaving town for a village.
“People were smashing the windows and fences of shops and cars,” mentioned Mehmet Bok, 26, now again in Antakya and looking for a piece colleague in a collapsed constructing.
German help organizations suspended rescue operations within the quake area on Saturday, citing safety issues and experiences of clashes between teams of individuals and gunfire.
Turkish authorities haven’t commented on any unrest, however President Tayyip Erdogan mentioned on Saturday the federal government would deal firmly with looters and different prison habits, noting {that a} state of emergency had been declared.
The demise toll has surpassed 25,300 in Turkey and Syria.
Another rescuer, Gizem from the southeastern province of Sanliurfa, mentioned she had additionally seen looters within the 4 days she had been in Antakya.
“We cannot intervene much as most of the looters carry knives. They caught a looter today, people chased after him,” she mentioned within the metropolis the place there was a heavy police and navy presence directing visitors, serving to rescuers and handing out meals.
She described Antakya as a spot of demise and destruction when she arrived. “We could not hold back our tears,” she mentioned as ambulance sirens wailed within the background.
“If people don’t die here under the rubble, they’ll die from injuries, if not they will die from infection. There is no toilet here. It is a big problem,” she mentioned, including that there have been not sufficient physique luggage for all of the useless.
“The bodies are all over the roads, with only blankets on them.”
Townsfolk have been carrying masks to cowl the odor of demise.
Others echoed issues about hygiene, particularly inadequate numbers of working bathrooms.
There have been lengthy strains at non permanent cellular bathrooms however many individuals mentioned they have been merely discovering a hidden spot, resulting in complaints about stench.
“I think right now what’s needed most is hygiene products. We have toilet problems, I am scared that some disease will spread,” mentioned one man, who declined to present his title and who traveled from Antalya to assist in rescue operations.
He mentioned there was little coordination, with everybody doing what they’ll to avoid wasting lives and a few collapsed buildings nonetheless untouched in facet streets.
“We are digging for hours and hours,” he mentioned, describing pulling alive from the rubble in a single day a 56-year outdated girl, her face lined with mud, who had fallen into the stairwell of an condominium constructing.
“We’ve pulled out some 150-200 dead bodies.” —Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
