Father and young daughter pulled from rubble in 6th day of rescues
From CNN's Niamh Kennedy, Amy Croffey in London and Isil Sariyuce in Istanbul
Sezai Karabas is put on a stretcher after being rescued from rubble on Saturday, February 11, in Gaziantep, Turkey. Karabas' daughter Sengul was also rescued. (Halil Fidan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Rescuers in Gaziantep, Turkey, saved Sezai Karabas and his young daughter, Şengul Karabas, during the 132nd hour of rescue efforts there on Saturday.
In video shared with CNN by its affiliate station, CNN Turk, the father can be heard pleading with rescuers to search for his wife, who he believes is still alive and trapped in a doorway.
"I’m forever in your debt," Karabas can be heard telling the rescuers, imploring them to help find his wife, who he said ran ahead of him when the earthquake struck on Monday.
In the same hour, but in the province of Hatay, a team of rescuers lifted a 34-year-old man, Ergin Guzeldogan, from deep within the ground in a video shared with CNN by the Municipality of Istanbul.
11:52 a.m. ET, February 11, 2023
Death toll from earthquakes in Turkey and Syria surpasses 25,000
From CNN's Isil Sariyuce, Celine Alkhaldi and Manveena Suri
People mourn their relatives at a mass grave in Adiyaman, Turkey, on February 11. (Sedat Suna/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
The death toll following deadly earthquakes in Turkey and Syria has surpassed 25,000.
In Turkey, the number of people killed has risen to 21,848, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Speaking in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa on Saturday, Erdogan added that 80,104 people had been injured.
In Syria, the total number of deaths stands at 3,553, including 2,166 in rebel-held areas in the northwest, according to the White Helmets civil defense group. There have been 1,387 deaths in government-controlled parts of Syria, according to Syrian state media.
The total number of injured people in Syria across all affected territories stands at 5,273, with 2,326 in government-controlled areas and 2,950 in the rebel-held areas.
2:17 p.m. ET, February 11, 2023
UN aid chief says earthquake was "worst event in 100 years" for the affected regions
From CNN's Niamh Kennedy
Martin Griffiths, second from left, attends a press conference in Maras, Turkey, on February 11. (Emilie Madi/Reuters)
The United Nations aid chief described this week's devastating earthquake in southern Turkey and northwestern Syria as the "worst event in 100 years" to hit the region.
The official, Martin Griffiths, made the remark to reporters during a visit to Kahramanmaras, Turkey, on Saturday.
"The response as you have seen here, and as your viewers have seen, is also unique," Griffiths added. "There has never been an international response, a Turkish response to a natural disaster as we see here in these terrible days."
Griffiths, who is the current under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator at the UN, stressed that the UN would have a "clear plan" on either Sunday or Monday "to give an appeal for a three-month operation to help the people of Turkey with humanitarian assistance."
He added that a similar plan will be laid out for the people of Syria.
During his trip to Kahramanmaras, Griffith met families impacted by the devastating earthquake. Posting pictures of the meeting on Twitter, Griffiths said he had "listened to their stories of shock and devastation."
11:48 a.m. ET, February 11, 2023
Syrian president and first lady visit northwestern city hit by earthquake
From CNN's Niamh Kennedy and Celine Alkhaldi
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma visit an injured girl at Tishreen University Hospital, in Latakia, Syria, on February 11. (Yamam al Shaar/Reuters)
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma visited rescue teams and civilians in parts of northwestern Syria hit by Monday's devastating earthquake, according to Syrian state media.
State media SANA reported Saturday that they went to the Tishreen University Hospital in the city of Latakia to visit people injured by the earthquake.
While in Latakia, the couple spoke to families impacted by earthquake at the city's Bassel al-Assad educational center.
Assad and his wife also paid a visit to Russian and Syrian rescue teams operating in the city of Jableh, 25 kilometers (about 15.5 miles) south of Latakia.
Pictures from the scene posted by SANA showed huge groups of rescue workers pause operations to listen to the president.
On Friday, Assad used his first televised comments since the earthquake struck parts of Syria to criticize Western nations.
Syria’s state-run media and government officials have pinned the lack of humanitarian aid and hindered rescue equipment on US and European Union sanctions. However, several countries have sent aid to Assad’s government, and international humanitarian organizations have distributed aid across government territory.
CNN's Mostafa Salem and Eyad Kourdi contributed reporting to this post.
Germany has also suspended rescue and relief work at the site of a deadly earthquake in Turkey due to security concerns, following a similar move by Austria earlier Saturday.
The German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) stopped its rescue operations due to a change in the security situation in the Hatay region, the organization said in a statement Saturday.
It had been operating with International Search and Rescue (ISAR) Germany, in coordination with Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD).
“In the last few hours, the security situation in the Hatay region has apparently changed. There are increasing reports of clashes between different groups. The search and rescue teams of ISAR Germany and THW will therefore remain in the joint base camp for the time being. ISAR and THW will resume their work as soon as AFAD deems the situation to be safe,” read the statement.
The Austrian Army also cited security risks in suspending its operations.
10:02 a.m. ET, February 11, 2023
Erdogan warns looters will be punished as death toll from quake rises
From CNN's Lindsay Isaac
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan talks to the press while visiting Diyarbakir, Turkey, on February 11. (Ilyas Akengin/AFP/Getty Images)
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has warned that action will be taken against people looting and committing other crimes in some of the areas hit by the quake.
It comes as the president said that at least 21,043 people are known to have died in Turkey following Monday’s 7.8 magnitude quake.
There are increasing security concerns in the quake zone and the Austrian army has suspended rescue operations there due to an increasingly difficult security situation.
Speaking in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey on Saturday, Erdogan also said university dorms will be dedicated to hosting earthquake victims who have lost homes and classes will go online to accommodate that until summer time.
In Syria, the total number of dead stands at 3,513, including 2,166 in rebel-held areas in the northwest of the country, according to the "White Helmets" civil defense – and 1,347 deaths in government-controlled parts of Syria, according to Syrian state media.
8:00 a.m. ET, February 11, 2023
Istanbul ferry becomes floating accommodation for earthquake evacuees
From CNN's Joseph Ataman
Work was underway Friday night to transform an Istanbul ferry into floating accommodation for 1,200 earthquake-affected people. (Joseph Ataman/CNN)
The whirring of saws and hammering of nails filled the belly of the ferry, its silent parade of cars was replaced by a hive of midnight activity.
Above deck, seats of the cabin were empty and the tables bare except for the school books and toys that waited for unknown children.
In Istanbul’s Yenikapı Port, a midnight transformation was underway Friday night, as city authorities raced to transform one of two ferryboats into a floating village, with enough showers, kitchens, and even school teachers to temporarily house 1,200 people left homeless by this week’s deadly earthquake.
With its departure set for Saturday morning, time was of the essence, with city workers and volunteers having only started the ship’s metamorphosis 24 hours earlier.
(Joseph Ataman/CNN)
By midnight, a few dozen bunks stood upright, ready for the extra crew, and 14 hospital beds were being shrouded with sheets, for the injured evacuees, that the boat will pick up in Iskenderun port, in Turkey’s earthquake-stricken Hatay province.
While Turkey’s president has promised to provide hotel rooms for homeless residents, this project was the product of Istanbul’s own initiative rather than any government edict.
It’s a much needed, if imperfect, solution to the impending housing crisis, with thousands of buildings destroyed, likely many more uninhabitable.
"People will be able to sleep," Sinem Dedetaş, general manager of the Istanbul’s ferry lines, which owns the boat, said. "They will be able to wash and use toilets, to eat comfortably. We will have socialization and rehabilitation areas."
"This is a very difficult process," she added, "especially for children in terms of returning to a something more normal." "For a homeless family, this boat will actually be a kind of home."
(Joseph Ataman/CNN)
9:57 a.m. ET, February 11, 2023
WHO chief arrives in Aleppo on plane carrying $290,000 worth of supplies
From CNN's Celine Alkhaldi
WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visits Aleppo, Syria, on February 11. (Syrian state media/SANA)
The World Health Organization's director-general arrived in Syria’s earthquake-hit Aleppo city on Saturday, according to Syrian state media SANA.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus departed from Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport on Saturday morning on a humanitarian aid flight carrying more than $290,000 worth of trauma emergency and surgical kits, in coordination with Dubai’s International Humanitarian City (IHC), the IHC told CNN.
Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Emergencies Programme, who departed on the flight with Ghebreyesus, told CNN on Friday that the aid shipment was a “scale up” of already existing WHO supplies in Syria.
“We have a system that we’ll scale up. We have prepositioned supplies in country, where we have national warehouses,” Ryan said, adding that the IHC in Dubai will act as a “backup” logistics center. “We’ve got 141 local partners in the areas that are controlled by the government. We’ve been working there for 10 years using the Bab al-Hawa crossing point,” Ryan said. “The problem has been the Bab al-Hawa crossing has been compromised by the earthquake itself,” Ryan said.
Another flight is scheduled to reach Syria on Sunday and is expected to carry “37 metric tons of emergency health supplies to reach 300 000 people,” the WHO said.
Some context: The international community has been urged to do more to help civilians in Syria following Monday's devastating quake.
Austrian Army suspends Turkish rescue operation due to security risks
From CNN's Stephanie Halasz
The Austrian Army has suspended rescue operations in Turkey due to an "increasingly difficult security situation," according to the Austrian Forces Disaster Relief Unit (AFDRU).
"The expected success of saving a life bears no reasonable relation to the security risk. There is increasing aggression between groups in Turkey," Lieutenant Colonel Pierre Kugelweis of the AFDRU said in a statement Saturday.
"There was no attack on us Austrians. We're all fine ... The mood among the helpers is good, given the circumstances ... We would like to help, but the circumstances are what they are," Kugelweis continued.
"We keep our rescue and recovery forces ready. We are ready for further operations," Kugelweis added, stating that a scheduled return to Austria for Thursday remains in place.
Since Tuesday, 82 AFDRU soldiers have been deployed. They have recovered nine buried people.
