China News Service, February 8th (Xinhua) Comprehensive foreign media reports, official data show that a strong earthquake occurred in southern Turkey near the border with Syria in the early morning of the 6th. As of the 8th, 9,504 people in the two countries were killed.
Among them, 6,957 people were killed in Turkey and 2,547 in Syria.
Rescuers are still searching for trapped survivors.
UNICEF officials warned that the quake may have claimed the lives of thousands of children.
Image source: Screenshot of CNN report
A 15-year-old girl was crushed to death by a concrete slab in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, as her father sat next to her, wearing a bright orange jacket with reflective strips, AFP reported. Unable to speak in grief, she clutched her hand stretched out from the ruins.
The Associated Press reported that a reporter witnessed a Syrian man lift the body of a young girl from the rubble.
He put the little girl on the ground and covered her with a big blanket to keep it from the rain.
The New York Post reported that there were also reports of children being rescued from the rubble, including a newborn baby who was still alive in the collapsed building.
Her umbilical cord is still connected to her mother, but her mother has unfortunately died.
The World Health Organization said the death toll from the earthquake and aftershocks in Turkey and Syria could reach 20,000.
"It's a race against time," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "Every hour and every minute that passes, the chances of finding survivors decrease."
The New York Post reported that rescue teams and civilians were searching for trapped survivors in the frigid weather, sometimes digging with their bare hands among the rubble of collapsing buildings.
In addition, the severe winter weather has hindered the delivery of relief work and aid, and the homeless people are facing even more dire plight.
Dozens of countries have pledged to help and have begun sending search-and-rescue teams and airlifting aid to the devastated areas.