Turkey-Syria earthquakes: Grief 'slowly giving way to anger'

German and Austrian rescue teams have suspended operations in southeastern Turkey, citing security concerns, as the region reels from the devastating earthquake which hit the area this Monday. The quake was followed by multiple aftershocks.

"It can be seen that grief is slowly giving way to anger," the director of operations for German aid organization ISAR Steven Bayer said on Saturday.

ISAR and Germany's Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) said on Saturday they were stopping their work after riot-like situations in the province of Hatay.

THW and ISAR attributed the situation to "the shortage of food and the problematic water supply in the earthquake area."

Separately, a spokesman for the Austrian military also said it had suspended its rescue operations in Turkey due to a worsening "security situation."

"There is increasing aggression between factions in Turkey," Lieutenant Colonel Pierre Kugelweis of the Austrian Armed Forces said.

The Austrian disaster relief unit has been helping with the search and rescue operations in Hatay since Tuesday. They were confined to their base camp until the situation improved.

"We would like to continue helping, but the circumstances are what they are," Kugelweis said.

Here are other updates on the aftermath of the deadly earthquake on Saturday, February 11:

Turkey detains at least a dozen people over collapsed buildings 

At least 12 people were detained in Turkey for their alleged role in the collapse of the buildings during Monday's devastating earthquake, local media reported.

Most of those detained are contractors. They are accused of negligence concerning the collapsed buildings in the southeastern provinces of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa. 

One other contractor was arrested at Istanbul Airport on Friday while attempting to flee to Montenegro. 

The public prosecutor in Diyarbakir has meanwhile issued around 30 arrest warrants on Saturday, paving the way for further detentions. Diyarbakir is among the 10 southeastern provinces affected by the earthquake.

In another affected province, Adana, the prosecutor's office issued an arrest warrant for 62 people, the Turkish Anadolu news agency reported on Saturday.

Turkey's Justice Ministry had ordered prosecutors in the 10 stricken provinces to form investigation offices to look into "earthquake crimes."

Turkish authorities also arrested 48 people across eight provinces over looting and theft which took place after the earthquake, Anadolu reported on Saturday.

Death toll passes 25,000

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the death toll in Turkey to 21,848 on Saturday. He said that 80,104 have been injured in the quakes.

In neighboring Syria, the death toll in government and opposition-held areas stands at 3,553.

There have been 1,891 aftershocks since the first quake early on Monday, Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said.

Search and rescue teams worked through the night, pulling more bodies from the rubble following Monday's devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

The number of rescues are falling, although some survivors were still being found.

The focus has shifted to helping the survivors, with many in desperate need of aid.

Baby, elderly woman rescued from rubble

Rescuers pulled an infant and an elderly woman from the rubble on Saturday.

State news agency Anadolu reported that the two-month-old baby was found alive in Turkey 128 hours after the quake.

Armenia-Turkey border crossing opened for first time in 35 years

A border crossing between Armenia and Turkey has been opened to allow humanitarian aid to cross, Turkish envoy Serdar Kilic said.

State news agency Anadolu agency said this was the first time the crossing had opened since 1988, when Turkey sent aid to Armenia following an earthquake that killed up to 30,000 people.

Kilic said that five trucks with aid including food and water arrived in Turkey from the Alican crossing.

"Happy to have been able to assist," Ruben Rubinyan, vice president of Armenia's national assembly, tweeted.

The two countries have never established formal diplomatic relations and their shared border has been closed since the 1990s. In December 2021, the two countries appointed envoys to help normalize relations.

WHO chief in Syria

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is visiting Syria's quake-stricken city of Aleppo.

The plane he flew in on carried around 35 tons of vital medical equipment to treat quake survivors, and he said a second plane will arrive on Sunday. 

"We are very happy that we could come with the supplies," he told reporters at Aleppo airport.

The WHO believes around 5 million people in Syria have been affected by the earthquakes and aftershocks that struck neighboring Turkey.

In Aleppo, more than 200,000 people are homeless, Iman Shankiti, WHO representative in Syria, said.

Turkish woman dies day after her rescue

A woman died in hospital on Saturday, a day after she was pulled out of the rubble of a collapsed building.

German rescuers pulled 40-year-old Zeynep Kahraman out of the rubble in the town of Kırıkhan in southern Turkey on Friday.

Steven Bayer, the German International Search and Rescue leader, told DW the rescuers' effort was not in vain.

"She didn't die alone," he said.

UN aid chief says 'worst event in 100 years in this region'

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths described the earthquake as the "worst event in 100 years in this region."

During a news briefing in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras, Griffiths also lauded Turkey's response to the disaster as "extraordinary."

He also told Reuters he hoped aid for Syria would go to both government and opposition-held areas, but said the matter was "not clear yet."

The UN has pledged a $25 million grant for people in earthquake-stricken areas of Syria. That's in addition to a $25 million (€23 million) grant announced earlier this week for emergency operations in both Turkey and Syria.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday around 130 urban search-and-rescue teams from around the world were working in Turkey, and another 57 teams were on their way.

Cuban 'white coats' heading to Turkey and Syria

A group of healthcare workers from Cuba is heading to Turkey and Syria, joining a growing group of nations helping treat survivors.

Cuban authorities said 32 medics were heading to Turkey. Syrian ambassador Ghassan Obeid told Cuban state-run media earlier in the week that 27 doctors would also go to Syria.

They are part of the country's International Medical Brigade that Cuba has deployed to disaster sites and disease outbreaks around the world.

They helped in Haiti's battle with cholera and West Africa's ebola outbreak in the 2010s.

Calls for aid intensify

At least 870,000 people urgently needed food in the two countries after the quake, which may have left up to 5.3 million people homeless in Syria alone, the United Nations warned.

The World Food Programme appealed for $77 million to provide food rations to at least 590,000 newly displaced people in Turkey and 284,000 in Syria.

Temperatures remained below freezing across region, and many people had no shelter.

In Turkey, the government has distributed millions of hot meals, tents, and blankets but still struggled to reach many of those in need.

In Syria, the disaster compounded suffering in a region beset by the 12-year civil war.

The WFP has delivered food aid to 115,000 people in Turkey and Syria in the first four days since the earthquake struck, and the World Health Organization delivered 72 metric tons of trauma and emergency surgery supplies.

DW bears witness

DW's Teri Schultz is in Turkey, covering the earthquake's impact on the people there.

She has witnessed heartbreak and hope over the last few days. 

You can read her account of the humanitarian catastrophe here. 

lo/kb (AFP, AP. dpa, Reuters)