Death toll from two successive superpowers earthquakeswho hit her Turkey And Syriasurpassed them 12000while desperation grows for the people who remain trapped in rubble and rubble.

Thousands of rescuers working in the affected areas face shortages of trucks, fuel and time, and the international community is trying to help.

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the afflicted and tried to fight off one crescendo of criticism of his administration.

He acknowledged there were problems with the initial response to the devastating earthquake amid anger from those left homeless and frustration over the delay in the arrival of rescue teams.

“The time has come for unity, solidarity. At a time like this, I cannot deal with people who carry out negative campaigns for political interests,” he said upon his arrival in the southern province. Hatay. fill in there teams from 18 countries are trying.

Reuters reports that in the affected areas, people are looking for temporary shelter and food, and difficult weather conditions with extreme cold make it difficult to find those who remain trapped in piles of rubble.

During the day, the rescuers managed to free a few people alive, but increasingly, the Turks complain about the lack of equipment, know-how and support to rescue the stranded.

“Where is the state? Where was he for two days? Please them. Let’s do this, we can get them out,” she told Reuters. Sabiha Alinak near the snow-covered building in which her relatives were stuck in the city of Malatya.

There were similar scenes and complaints in neighboring Syriathe northern part of which was hit by an earthquake on Monday.

The Syrian ambassador to the UN acknowledged that the government “lacks capacity and equipment,” but blamed the decade-long civil war in the country and Western sanctions.

Turkey is expected to continue opening two more border gates with Syria Turkey’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that humanitarian aid would be delivered to its earthquake-stricken neighbor. Mevlut Cavusoglu.

EU: €6.5 million emergency humanitarian aid

Emergency humanitarian assistance in the amount of 6.5 million eurosthrough it, the EU will provide Turkey and Syria EU Civil Protection MechanismThe European Commission has announced this.

• For her Syriaannounced an emergency humanitarian aid of €3.5 million in the first phase. This amount covers access to housing, water and sanitation for people in need, as well as the provision of various medical supplies and support for search and rescue operations.
• For Turkeyannounced an initial aid of 3 million euros. This amount is in addition to the 31 search and rescue teams and 5 medical teams offered by the 20 EU Member States, as well as Albania, Montenegro and Serbia through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The teams include more than 1500 rescuers and 100 search and rescue dogs.

Lekkas in “K”: What we live in cannot be described

“The picture is indescribable, unprecedented, unique from a historical point of view,” the head of the Greek mission in Turkey tells K. Efthymyos Lekkas. “At the rescue level, the challenges are enormous. We work in unbearably cold conditions and with constant tremors,” he adds.

The Greek team was the first to arrive in Turkey after the devastating earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale and immediately assumed an operational role. Hatay, a city of 200,000 people, according to Mr. Lekka, saw 1/5 of its area completely destroyed. However, in this “belligerent” scene, as he characterizes it, the Greek EMAK managed to save four people. from rubble. The Turkish media, by the way, are especially supportive of the work of the Greek rescuers.

Mr. Lekkas notes that “no matter how many rescue teams come here, we would not have achieved even 5% of the satisfaction of needs – the front on which the disaster is spreading is huge, you can’t keep track of it.”

EMAK released a young woman – “Thank you” she said

Dramatic moments are experienced by Greek EMAK rescuers who work in the earthquake-hit Hatay region in Turkey. About 12 hours later, the Greek mission managed to rescue a young woman, 20-year-old Irina, from the ruins of an apartment building.

Speaking to K, Epipyragos Ioannis Artofios, a spokesman for the fire brigade, spoke about the efforts of the Greek rescuers, while showing that during the rescue he spoke frankly with the team and heard the young Turkala speak in broken Greek: “Thank you.”

Mr. Artofios said the EMAK team found in the ruins of said building a mother who was depressed, while her attempt to save her child was evident. Unfortunately, both the child and the mother died. However, next to them was a 20-year-old woman, crushed by furniture – she could not even move her leg, resting on a concrete beam.

After many hours of effort, the team approached her, took her by the hand, gave her water and food. She was dehydrated and very tired, and the rescue team continued the rescue efforts, all the while trying to calm Irene down: “They kept telling her don’t worry, we’ll get you out alive,” Mr. Baker told “K.”

And he added: “The Greek rescuers made an incision in the column blocking them”, took out the baby – he was already dead – created a living space and, finally, managed to free Irene. Immediately after that, an ambulance took her away.

The son of the firefighter who saved little Andreas in Aigio freed the child in Turkey

Particularly touching is the human detail of the dramatic and titanic efforts of Greek rescuers in the city of Hatay, Turkey, who pulled four people alive from the ruins of buildings that collapsed from a terrifying earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale.