Freezing temperatures deepened the misery Thursday for survivors of a massive earthquake in Turkiye and Syria that killed at least 15,000 people, as rescuers raced to save countless people still trapped under rubble.
\nThe death toll from Monday\u2019s 7.8-magnitude quake is expected to rise sharply as rescue efforts near the 72-hour mark that disaster experts consider the most likely period to save lives.
\nTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday conceded \u201cshortcomings\u201d after criticism of his government\u2019s response to the massive earthquake, which is one of the deadliest this century.
\nThe issue of aid to Syria is a delicate one, and the sanctioned government in Damascus made an official plea to the EU for help, the bloc\u2019s commissioner for crisis management Janez Lenarcic said.
\nA decade of civil war and Syrian-Russian aerial bombardment had already destroyed hospitals, collapsed the economy and prompted electricity, fuel and water shortages.
\nThe European Commission is \u201cencouraging\u201d EU member countries to respond to Syria\u2019s request for medical supplies and food, while monitoring to ensure that any aid \u201cis not diverted\u201d by President Bashar al-Assad\u2019s government, Lenarcic noted.
\nDozens of nations, including the United States, China and the Gulf States have pledged to help, and search teams as well as relief supplies have already arrived.
\nThe European Union was swift to dispatch rescue teams to Turkiye after the massive earthquake struck the country on Monday close to the border with Syria.
\nBut it initially offered only minimal assistance to Syria because of EU sanctions imposed since 2011 on Assad\u2019s government over its brutal crackdown on protesters that spiralled into a civil war.
\nThe Turkiye-Syria border is one of the world\u2019s most active earthquake zones. Monday\u2019s quake was the largest Turkey has seen since 1939, when 33,000 people died in eastern Erzincan province.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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