Teams search through the rubble in a destroyed building in Adana,Turkey.Credit:AP
More than 45 countries pledged to send experts and aid to help rescue efforts. Australia has pledged $10 million worth of assistance,with $7 million to support the injured and evacuation efforts with food,tents and blankets. A further $3 million will be given to Syria for shelter,clean water and sanitation,with the Syrian aid focusing on women and girls.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said Australia’s consular services were working with local authorities to follow up on a “small number” of citizens in affected areas.
“It is a crisis that is affecting so many of our fellow human beings. We will continue to monitor the unfolding situation on the ground,” she told the Senate.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had conveyed Australia’s condolences,saying the nation was deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life and devastation.
Australians in need of emergency consular assistance should contact the Australian Government 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 in Australia or +61 2 6261 3305 outside Australia. Australians overseas are encouraged to subscribe to Smartraveller travel advice for the latest information.
Britain said it would dispatch 76 research and rescue specialists,four search dogs and rescue equipment.
Rescue workers and residents in several cities were conducting increasingly desperate searches for survivors,working through tangled metal and concrete. A hospital in Turkey collapsed,while patients,including newborns,were also evacuated from medical facilities in Syria.
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Millions were facing a night without heating gas,electricity,or fuel for their cars. Authorities halted flows of crude to a regional export terminal as they searched for signs of damage along a major oil pipeline.
Turkey lies in one of the world’s most active seismic zones and is crossed by numerous fault lines,with the quakes also felt in Lebanon,Jordan,Iraq,Israel and Egypt.
In Lebanon,local media reported that people ran out into the streets to flee shaking buildings as several strong aftershocks hit.
Among those affected were many of Turkey’s 3.7 million registered Syrian refugees,the biggest such population in the world. The worst affected parts of Syria were those already devastated by 12 years of brutal war.
Emergency team members and others search for people in a destroyed building in Adana,Turkey.Credit:AP
The disaster affected several southern Turkish provinces stretching hundreds of kilometres,where about 13 million people were bracing for colder winter temperatures. Erdogan,who is facing general elections in May,dispatched several cabinet ministers to the area.
A huge earthquake,measuring 7.6,struck Istanbul and the surrounding provinces in 1999,killing more than 17,000 people.
Seismologists have blamed a lack of enforcement of building codes for high fatality rates in Turkish disasters.
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Last year,the urban and environment minister said the country’s housing stock included 6.8 million homes deemed “at risk” in the event of an earthquake.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement:“My thoughts are with the people of Türkiye and Syria this morning,particularly with those first responders working so valiantly to save those trapped by the earthquake. The UK stands ready to help in whatever way we can.”
French President Emmanuel Macron described the images coming from both countries as “terrible” and said France “stands ready to provide emergency aid”,while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country mourned with the relatives of those killed and would send help.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he was in touch with Erdogan and was mobilising support.
with Reuters,AP
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