Turkey moves from rescue to reconstruction; total deaths exceed 41,000

The focus in Turkey is shifting from rescue operations to reconstruction as authorities start carrying out damage assessments of buildings in the worst-affected areas. More than 41,000 people have died across southern Turkey and northwestern Syria, and hopes of finding survivors continue to fade.

More than 50,000 buildings in Turkey need to be torn down urgently, tweeted Environment and Urbanization Minister. “We will quickly demolish what needs to be demolished and build safe houses!” he added. In Syria, Bashar al-Assad’s regime opened the Bab al-Salam and al-Raee border crossings for deliveries of aid into rebel-held regions, a U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokesperson said, and a convoy from the United Nations crossed into northwestern Syria through Bab al-Salam.

During a visit to Turkey’s Malatya region, Culture Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy called on residents to return home if their buildings are deemed safe. He also told a news conference that local public buildings would resume work starting Wednesday.

The likelihood of finding survivors is diminishing by the hour even as a few people are still being rescued more than 200 hours after the quakes. The death toll in Turkey passed 35,400 on Tuesday, according to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Syrian government’s Health Ministry reported 1,414 deaths, and the U.N. humanitarian agency reported 4,400 deaths in rebel-held northwestern Syria.

U.N. aid trucks carrying shelter materials, blankets, mattresses and carpets entered a rebel-held region of Syria through the Bab al-Salam crossing on Tuesday, the International Organization for Migration said, one day after the U.N. secretary general announced the border openings. In total, at least 95 U.N. aid trucks had entered northwestern Syria as of Tuesday, the humanitarian agency said.

Turkish stocks rose almost 10 percent after trading reopened Wednesday. Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 index halted trading temporarily on Feb. 8 - two days after the earthquakes - and soared as it reopened. However, the Turkish lira has continued to fall against the dollar.

UNICEF said it “fears many thousands of children have been killed” by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Though the organization does not have verified numbers for child casualties, it said more than 7 million children are known to have lived in provinces affected by the disaster.

The World Health Organization said it expects to double its $43 million appeal for its earthquake response in the coming days, as the scale of the crisis becomes clearer. Hans Kluge, the regional director for Europe, said Tuesday that in addition to the immediate humanitarian response, concerns over health issues are growing because of cold weather, hygiene, sanitation and infectious diseases.

The United Nations launched an appeal Tuesday for $397.6 million in aid to help earthquake victims in Syria, citing shelter, food, medical supplies, heating devices and heavy machinery for debris removal as “priority needs.”

The United States is planning for the “longer-term needs” of survivors in Turkey and Syria, State Department spokesman Ned Price said. “We know that the people of Turkey and the people of Syria over the much longer term will need shelter, food, medical supplies and clean water,” he said. “We and our partners are already working to provide this critical support.”

A woman in her 40s was rescued in Turkey on Wednesday after surviving 222 hours in the rubble, Turkish broadcaster TRT World reported, as rescue operations in the country continued to slow. At least three other people were rescued in Turkey on Tuesday after managing to stay alive for more than 200 hours after the quakes, TRT World reported, including a 77-year-old woman in Adiyaman province and a father and daughter in Hatay province.

More than 550 buildings have collapsed in rebel-held northwestern Syria, the White Helmets said Tuesday.

UNICEF said it dispatched social workers to Turkish hospitals to help identify unaccompanied or separated children. In total, 508 of 1,396 unaccompanied children extracted from the rubble have been reunited with their families, the Turkish government said.

Hundreds of animals have been recovered from collapsed buildings in Turkey. In an interview with TRT World, Zuhal Arslan of the animal rights group Haytap said the organization has been working to match lost pets with their owners and treat them for injuries.

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The Washington Post’s Leo Sands and Maham Javaid contributed to this report.