Hopes fade for survivors of Turkey quake

Hopes of finding more survivors of Turkey’s devastating earthquake are fading: some teams have already suspended searches. Tens of thousands have been left homeless by the powerful 7.2 magnitude quake, which has now prompted the government to request foreign aid, including from Israel, to shelter distraught families amid growing complaints of a lack of tents and other relief supplies. Prospects of finding survivors buried under tonnes of rubble are waning as time passes and winter temperatures fall, though there have been some happy stories of persons being pulled from the rubble alive – and these have gone some distance to buoying spirits of rescuers and citizens alike.

Meanwhile, complaints over the lack of tents have grown louder with each passing day, and some desperate survivors fought among themselves to try and grab tents being distributed by relief
workers from the back of a truck. The Turkish Red Crescent has been struggling to deliver fast enough to provide shelter for victims of the quake shivering in freezing temperatures at night.
Having started out by saying Turkey could handle the disaster alone, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government put out requests on Tuesday to 30 countries, including Israel, for
emergency materials, including prefabricated housing, tents and containers.Listen


Israel, whose ties with Turkey hit rock bottom after Israeli commandos killed nine Turks on board a Gaza-bound flotilla last year, immediately said it was launching an airlift of supplies, starting with a shipment of prefabricated homes on Wednesday.