An officer walks in front of a collapsed building in Antakya, south of Hatay on February 16, 2023, ten days after a 7.8-magnitude struck the border region of Turkey and Syria. – The United Nations has launched an appeal for USD1 billion to help victims in Turkey of last week’s catastrophic earthquake that killed thousands of people and left millions more in desperate need of aid. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that the funds would provide humanitarian relief for three months to 5.2 million people. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP)
Syrian family of seven dies in fire after surviving quake
Five Syrian children and their parents died in a fire that struck a Turkish home they moved to after surviving last week’s earthquake.
An officer walks in front of a collapsed building in Antakya, south of Hatay on February 16, 2023, ten days after a 7.8-magnitude struck the border region of Turkey and Syria. – The United Nations has launched an appeal for USD1 billion to help victims in Turkey of last week’s catastrophic earthquake that killed thousands of people and left millions more in desperate need of aid. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that the funds would provide humanitarian relief for three months to 5.2 million people. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP)
Five Syrian children and their parents died on Friday in a fire that struck a Turkish home they moved to after surviving last week’s earthquake, local media reported.
The family had relocated to the central region of Konya from the southeastern Turkish city of Nurdagi, which was badly hit by the February 6 quake, to stay with relatives.
The death toll from the 7.8-magnitude quake that hit southeastern Turkey and Syria has crossed 41,000 — the deadliest natural disaster in the region in centuries.
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The Anadolu state news agency said the five children were aged between four and 13.
“We saw the fire but we could not intervene. A girl was rescued from the window,” local resident Muhsin Cakir told Anadolu.
The 11 Turkish regions hit by the quake and its nearly 5,000 aftershocks are home to more than 1.74 million refugees, according to the United Nations.
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Turkey is home to nearly four million Syrians in all.
Mazen Allouch, an official on the Syrian side of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, told AFP on Friday that the bodies 1,528 Syrians killed in the quake have been repatriated home so far.
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Officials and medics said 38,044 people had died in Turkey and 3,688 in Syria, bringing the confirmed total to 41,732.
© Agence France-Presse
