Turkey-Syria earthquake toll mounts to 9,500; third NDRF team from India to be airlifted soon
Ankara (Turkey), February 8: The Turkey-Syria earthquake death toll stands at 9,487, CNN reported, citing officials as rescue operations continue in the disaster-hit countries. India is also rushing a fresh team of the NDRF along with other necessary equipment to Turkey.
The search for survivors of the terrible earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria on Monday continues on Wednesday. Foreign aid from multiple countries has started arriving in the region.
Rescuers are racing to pull survivors from earthquake rubble before they succumb to cold weather in southern Turkey and war-ravaged northern Syria. As the death toll climbed, despair and anger were growing over the pace of rescue efforts, reported Khaleej Times.
The quake, one of the strongest to hit the region in more than 100 years, struck 23 km (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi, in Turkey's Gaziantep province, at a depth of 24.1 km (14.9 miles), the US Geological Survey said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared a three-month-long state of emergency in 10 provinces as rescuers race against time in Turkey and Syria following Monday's devastating earthquake.
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On the other hand, two NDRF teams from India are already on ground in Turkey and have launched rescue operations at multiple collapsed structures, NDRF Director General Atul Karwal said on Wednesday. The third team has already been airlifted from Varanasi to Delhi and the rescuers are expected to leave for the disaster-struck nation by tonight on board an IAF plane, he said.
"The team consisting of 51 rescuers and a specially trained Dog squad will depart to Turkey on reaching National Capital," the NDRF DG said earlier.
India has extended humanitarian support to Turkey which was hit by powerful earthquake on Monday. An Indian Air Force C17 flight with over 50 personnel from the NDRF and a specially trained dog squad along with necessary equipment, including medical supplies, drilling machines and other equipment required for the aid efforts departed for Turkey on Tuesday.
The specially trained Labrador breed dog squad, which is an expert in sniffing and other key skills during rescue operations in disaster-hit regions, left India on Tuesday for Turkey with two separate teams of NDRF-- a 51-member team which arrived there in the morning and another 50-member team which reached by the evening.
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NDRF Director General Atul Karwal told ANI that the dog squad of the force and the 101 team members are self-contained in all respect and are equipped with all the necessary state-of-the-art search and rescue, and personal safety equipment.
The NDRF team will assist the local authorities of Turkey in relief and rescue operations as per the need, said the officer.
Two teams consisting of 101 personnel of the NDRF along with specially trained dog squads and all necessary equipment were sent to Turkey by special Indian Air Force flights.
A massive earthquake of 7.8 magnitude on the Richter Scale, ripped through Turkey and Syria on February 6, followed by a series of aftershocks that caused huge devastation, loss of lives and damage to infrastructure in both countries and according to latest estimates nearly 10,000 people have lost their lives in both countries.
- ANI
