![[Img #74664]](https://thelatestnews.world/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/James-Watson-The-controversial-genius-behind-the-double-helix-150x150.jpg)
First modification:
A man was rescued alive from the rubble this Friday, February 17, after having spent 278 hours trapped under a building that collapsed on February 6. Turkish authorities had to adapt cultural burial norms in the face of the need to bury tens of thousands of people in just a few days.
Hakan Yasinoglu, a 45-year-old man, was found alive after passing 278 hours inside the rubble of a destroyed building in the neighborhood of Defne, in Turkey. The man was taken to the hospital, as the television pictures showed.
Two other men had been saved this Friday morning in the same district, while a 12-year-old boy, from a Syrian family, was freed from a landslide in a nearby area.
They are part of the surprising survivors who spent almost 11 days without eating or drinking under the rubble and who were found alive by rescuers.
The two earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 left at least 38,000 dead in Turkey, according to the latest update from Ankara. However, it is estimated that the number will still rise and perhaps exceed 100,000 as the debris removal phase progresses. According to the Vice President of the Turkish Government, Fuat Oktay, Search and rescue work continues in 200 points of the territory.
In all, more than 42,000 people were killed in Syria and Turkey by the disasters, and millions were left homeless. In addition, 84,000 buildings must be demolished urgently due to the damage caused by the earthquakes, according to the Turkish Minister of Urban Planning, Murat Kurum.
bury the dead
The number of deaths since the natural catastrophe has made the job of burying them difficult. According to Islamic traditions, the dead should be buried as soon as possible, but since the earthquake struck, the deputy director of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs described the difficulties in recovering corpses from the rubble, explaining that sometimes, rituals had to be adapted.
“Let no one think that what is necessary is not being done. Look: our friends have carried out about 10,000 burials. It is not possible to dedicate hours to each one, so the process is carried out in an accelerated manner,” said the official, Burhan İşleyen , in an interview with the Turkish broadcaster To Credit.
According to Kirikkale city governor Bulent Tekbiyikoglu, the ghassals – who prepare corpses for burial according to Islamic rituals – had been working “in shifts as hundreds of bodies piled up at once,” he added.
In the Turkish city of Pazarcik, a cemetery has appeared inside a soccer field. Although the goals are still standing, some 100 mounds of earth and trenches have appeared at the site. Each tomb is surmounted by a wooden plank marking the same date of death, February 6, 2023.
The example of Pazarcik is a reflection of the struggle of the people trying to bury their dead and underlines the magnitude of the catastrophe. On Friday, thousands of people across Turkey participated in symbolic funerals for the dead who still lay under the rubblewhile many people continue to hope to find the bodies of their relatives.
“If we stay at home and listen to ourselves, we will never recover. There is no point in looking back,” said Ahmet Akburak, who has buried seven relatives, outside a Kahramanmaras mosque.
The World Health Organization (WHO) today increased its initial international appeal for $43 million in financial aid to care for earthquake victims to $84.5 million.
This aid includes the dispatch of medicines, emergency equipment for the victims, the deployment of experts to detect possible sources of infectious and respiratory diseases, and mental and psychosocial care services for the survivors.
With EFE and Reuters
