Istanbul: People trapped under the heaps of rubble from collapsed buildings following three major earthquakes in Turkey are sending voice messages to their known contacts even as the rescuers are racing against the time to find and rescue people.
Biting cold weather is hampering the rescue efforts and also made the plight of affected people even more miserable. The condition of internally people in Syria is of more concern as millions of people every year struggle to survive the winter.
As the death toll in the earthquake in both the countries has climbed to over 5,100, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces affected by the two earthquakes. In Turkey, 3,549 people have been killed while the number of casualties in Syria is more than 1700.
Several countries including India, European Union, South Korea, Iran etc have mobilised their rescue teams, detection dogs to speed up the rescue operations in the earthquake-stricken Turkey and Syria.
Meanwhile, two Indian Air Force planes have landed in quake-hit Turkey. The two C-17 Globemaster military transport aircrafts are carrying a mobile hospital and specialised search and rescue teams. The Indian government may also send three more flights to Turkey and Syria with additional relief material and medical supplies soon.
