The devastating earthquakes destroyed more than 20,000 buildings, Xinhua news agency reported. Local broadcaster NTV reported on Sunday that Yavuz Caracas and Seville Caracas, contractors of several buildings destroyed in the earthquake in the southern Adıyaman province, were detained at Istanbul airport. The semi-official Anadolu Agency reported that two more people were arrested for chopping down a building column in Gaziantep province. Thousands of rescuers continued to search for any signs of life in the collapsed multi-storey buildings for the seventh day after the disaster.
Baby girl rescued after 150 hours
However, hopes of finding survivors are growing bleak. Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca posted a video of a girl rescued in the 150th hour. The 65-year-old woman was pulled out by rescuers in Hatay province’s Antakya district 160 hours after the quake, Anadolu Agency reported. Chinese and local rescuers pulled a survivor from the rubble in Hatay province’s Antakya district on Sunday afternoon, 150 hours after the quake. On Sunday, Algeria and Libya also sent planes filled with relief supplies to quake-hit areas.
Meanwhile, foreign heads of state and ministers began visiting Turkey and Syria in a show of solidarity. Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias visited Turkey on Sunday. “We will continue to do our best to recover from difficult times both bilaterally and at the EU level,” said Dendias, the first European foreign minister to visit Turkey since the disaster. The Greek foreign minister’s visit comes amid long-running tensions between the two NATO nations over territorial disputes.
Turkey Earthquake: Terrible earthquake in Turkey, see the devastation
Qatar gave 10 thousand container houses
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the country’s first foreign head of state to visit earthquake-hit Turkey, met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Sunday. Anadolu Agency reported that Qatar has sent the first part of 10,000 container houses to earthquake victims in Turkey. On Sunday, the UAE’s foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, visited Syria and pledged continued support for its recovery from the devastating earthquake, Syrian state news agency SANA reported.
