Turkey and Syria earthquake death toll exceeds 37,000

The death toll from the devastating earthquakes that hit Turkiye and Syria on Monday, Feb. 6 has gone goes past 37,000 as rescuers in Turkey pulled several people alive from collapsed buildings, more than 7 days after the earthquake.

Turkish authorities say 31,974 people have been killed in the country, while more than 5,800 people are dead in Syria, according to the UN and the Syrian government. The quake was one of the deadliest tremors in Turkey’s modern history, with the combined death toll now exceeding 37,000.

It is the sixth most deadly natural disaster this century, behind the 2005 tremor that killed at least 73,000 in Pakistan.

In hard-hit Kahramanmaras, rescuers were attempting to reach a grandmother, mother and daughter, all from one family, who appeared to have survived the 7.8 magnitude Feb. 6 quake and aftershock.

An 18-year-old man was pulled from the rubble of a building in southern Turkey, the third rescue on Tuesday and some 198 hours after the devastating earthquake.

Muhammed Cafer, whose rescue was reported by broadcaster CNN Turk, could be seen moving his fingers as he was carried away, after surviving the huge Feb. 6 earthquake and major aftershock hours later.

A little earlier, rescuers pulled two brothers alive from the ruins of an apartment block in Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province, who Anadolu news agency named as 17-year-old Muhammed Enes Yeninar and his brother, 21-year-old Baki Yeninar. They were taken to hospital although their condition was unclear.