Pakistan Sends More Relief Goods as the Turkey death toll crosses 33,000

(CTN News) – Even though the death toll from the terrible earthquake surpassed 33,000 on Sunday, Pakistan continues to provide supplies for Syria and Turkey.

According to a spokeswoman for Pakistan International Airlines, a special plane carrying five tonnes of aid materials touched down in Turkiye on Sunday.

A group of medical professionals from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) has also been sent to the two countries. Paramedics, orthopedists, neurosurgeons, and anesthetists make up the 10-person team, according to Pims Spokesperson Dr. Haider Abbasi.

According to APP, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was updated by Federal Education Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain on Sunday on the donations made for the victims by educational institutions in Islamabad.

Officials said that 29,605 deaths in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria were attributed to the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that occurred on Monday, bringing the verified death toll to 33,179.

Syria pleads for help amid slow rescue efforts

Martin Griffiths, the head of the UN relief effort, who arrived on Saturday in Kahramanmaras, a city in southern Turkiye, has predicted a major increase in fatalities. According to AFP, he predicted that the death toll would “double or more” from its present level when it reached 28,000.

He said, “I believe it is tough to quantify exactly since we need to dig beneath the debris, but I’m sure it will double or more,” in an interview with Sky News.

Contrasting emergency responses Even though it has been over a week following one of the greatest earthquakes, the disparate rescue attempts in the two nations have given rise to dim hopes for locating survivors in Syria, torn apart by strife.

According to AFP, rescue workers in Syria’s seaside town of Jableh have spent most of the last six days searching under the piles of wreckage with little more than the barest of tools.

According to Alaa Moubarak, Jableh’s civil defense leader, there is “no chance” for survivors.

Latakia, one of the most severely affected by the earthquake and a region mostly under government authority, is where Jableh is situated.

A 42-person search and rescue team from the UAE equipped with sensors, search cameras, specialized drills, and fuel canisters flew in to scavenge the wreckage on Saturday.

 WHO seeks $42.8m funds

“We would have saved hundreds of lives, if not more if we had this technology,” stated Moubarak.

Other teams on the ground typically dig with their hands or shovels since they lack the resources and sophisticated search tools.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the earthquake impacted nearly 26 million people. According to Reuters, it has made a flash appeal for $42.8 million to address urgent medical requirements.

On Sunday, China sent 53 tonnes of tents to Turkiye, and additional emergency relief is expected soon, according to official television CCTV.

According to AFP, there are plans to transfer 10,000 cabins and caravans from the World Cup to Turkey and Syria to shelter the country’s homeless population.

When Qatar hosted the FIFA World Cup last year, the mobile residences were put to work for a few weeks. After the competition, officials said they would be donated. On Monday, the first cargo will depart from Doha for Turkiye.

A UN spokeswoman said on Sunday that Lebanon’s Hezbollah delivered 23 trucks delivering food and medical supplies to Syria, where assistance entering the opposition-controlled region has been hampered by “permission concerns.”

In addition, the UAE promised $13.6 million to Syria before declaring a further $50 million in aid.

According to Reuters, the Turkish government committed on Sunday to properly examine any builders, contractors, or other parties suspected of being to blame for the collapse of structures.

131 suspects have so far been recognized as being accountable, according to Vice President Fuat Oktay, who spoke overnight. For 113 of them, detention orders have been issued.

According to Environment Minister Murat Kurum, the earthquake caused 24,921 structures in the area to collapse or sustain significant damage.

An Israeli emergency assistance organization also stopped operating in Turkiye and went home after teams from Germany and Austria did so due to a “serious” security danger to its workers, according to AFP.

The organization’s vice president of operations, Dov Maisel, said: “We recognized a certain amount of danger in sending our team to this region of Turkiye, near the Syrian border.

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