Turkey-Syria earthquake death toll tops 34k, rescue ops on

The United Nations denounced on Sunday a failure to get desperately needed aid to war-torn regions of Syria, while warning that the death toll of over 34,800 from an earthquake that also devastated Turkey could double. Rescuers on Sunday extricated more survivors, including a pregnant woman and two small children, six days after a pair of earthquakes collapsed thousands of buildings.

Meanwhile, a UN convoy with supplies for northwest Syria arrived via Turkey, but the agency’s relief chief Martin Griffiths said much more was needed for millions whose homes were destroyed.

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“We have so far failed the people in northwest Syria. They rightly feel abandoned. Looking for international help that hasn’t arrived,” Griffiths said on Twitter.

Supplies have been slow to arrive in Syria, where years of conflict have ravaged the healthcare system, and parts of the country remain under the control of rebels battling the government of President Bashar al-Assad, which is under Western sanctions.

The UN convoy of ten trucks crossed into northwest Syria via the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, according to an AFP correspondent, carrying shelter kits including plastic sheeting, ropes and screws and nails, as well as blankets, mattresses and carpets.

Assad on Sunday thanked the UAE for providing “huge relief and humanitarian aid” with pledges of tens of millions of dollars in aid as well.

But security concerns prompted the suspension of some rescue operations, and dozens of people have been arrested for looting or trying to defraud victims in the aftermath of the quake in Turkey, according to state media.

An Israeli emergency relief organisation said on Sunday it had suspended its earthquake rescue operation in Turkey and returned home because of a “significant” security threat to its staff.

The United Nations has warned that at least 870,000 people urgently need hot meals across Turkey and Syria.

Turkey’s disaster agency said more than 32,000 people from Turkish organisations are working on search-and-rescue efforts, along with 8,294 international rescuers.

Anger grows

Syria’s transport ministry said 62 aid planes had landed in Syria this week with more on the way in coming days, in particular from Saudi Arabia. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has urged the Security Council to authorise the opening of new cross-border aid points between Turkey and Syria, with a meeting to discuss Syria possible in the coming days.

After days of grief and anguish, anger in Turkey has been growing over the poor quality of buildings as well as the government’s response to the country’s worst disaster in nearly a century.

Officials say 12,141 buildings were either destroyed or seriously damaged in the earthquake. Turkish police reportedly detained 12 people on Saturday, including contractors, over collapsed buildings in the southeastern provinces of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa.

48 arrested

Turkish authorities have arrested 48 people for looting or trying to defraud victims, state media reported on Saturday.

The suspects were held in eight different provinces as part of investigations into looting, news agency Anadolu said.

It later reported that 42 suspects were held for looting in southern Hatay province, while six were arrested over defrauding a victim in Gaziantep by telephone.