Feb 6, (BBC/GNA) – The death toll in Turkey from this morning’s earthquake has risen again to 1,498, according to the country’s disaster management agency.
The combined death toll from the initial quake in Turkey and Syria now stands at more than 2,300 after 810 people were confirmed dead in Syria, the AFP news agency reports.
Israel has said it will send search and rescue and medical teams to both Turkey and Syria.
“This is what we do around the world and this is what we do in areas close to us,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu said it was in response to a request from the Turkish government and one which was “also received to do this” for victims in Syria, without specifying the source.
Syria does not recognise Israel and the two countries have been in a state of war since 1948.
Israel and Turkey only restored diplomatic ties in August after Turkey broke off relations after a deadly incident in 2010.
The scale of the disaster in Turkey is “widespread and devastating”, according to an adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Almost 1,500 people have been confirmed dead in Turkey and more than 800 in neighbouring Syria, with the death toll expected to continue rising.
lnur Cevik says resources are not the problem in trying to find survivors, but rather that it’s a race against time.
“You are working against time,” he told BBC World Service’s Newshour programme.
“The adverse weather conditions and people that are under the rubble, you have to save them before the weather drops in and kills these people because of the cold, so people who are now under the rubble, there’s a mad rush to get them out.
“We have radars, body sensors, but you know there’s so much widespread devastation that you can’t reach everywhere – some of it you have to listen [for]… [People are asked to stay] silent so that they can hear some people calling for help.”
GNA/ Credit: BBC