International
Tuquía declares three-month state of emergency
February 8th
The Turkish government has declared a three-month state of emergency in the ten provinces affected by Monday’s two powerful earthquakes, which have already killed at least 3,549 people and injured 22,000 in the country.
According to the latest casualty count, some 5,000 people have been killed and another 25,000 injured in the series of devastating tremors that have left thousands of buildings collapsed, where the search for survivors continues amid freezing temperatures.
In Turkey, the death toll stands at 3,549 while at least 1,500 people have been killed and more than 3,500 injured in Syria.
Some 50,000 people, including soldiers, are involved in rescue efforts and ten navy ships and 26 military aircraft are involved in evacuating the wounded.
In addition, dozens of countries have already begun to send hundreds of rescuers and experts in the search for survivors, although the cold and snow in the area, where there are also mountainous territories of difficult access, complicate the rescue tasks.
More than 8,000 people have been rescued in Turkey, according to government data, according to the official Anadolu agency.
In Hatay, some 170 kilometers south of where the first quake struck, rescuers managed to make contact with a family of four trapped in the rubble.
“We will get them out alive. We are here for that,” a member of the rescue teams was heard saying during a broadcast on broadcaster CNNTürk.
In Diyarbakir, some 350 kilometers east of the province where the first tremor had its epicenter, a woman was rescued after being trapped in the rubble of her home for 31 hours and taken to a hospital to the applause of emergency crews.
A 30-year-old man was rescued early this morning from a ten-story building that collapsed in Osmaniye province, about 135 kilometers from where the epicenter of the first 7.6 magnitude earthquake was recorded at 4:17 a.m. (01:17 GMT) Monday.
Twelve bodies have already been recovered from the same building, which contained 40 apartments.
A fourteen-year-old boy was found alive in Kahramanmaras province, where the first tremor struck.
“I’m hungry” was the first thing he told rescue teams, local media report.
First planes with international aid arrive in Damascus
In Syria, the official news agency SANA, with sources from the Ministry of Health, reported early this morning that the death toll in areas controlled by the government of President Bashar al-Assad. has risen to 769, while the number of wounded has risen to 1,448.
The most affected provinces are Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, the outskirts of Idlib and Tartus.
On the other hand, the White Helmets, a group of rescuers operating in opposition-held areas of Syria, said in its latest update that there are 740 dead and 2,100 wounded in the northwestern province of Idlib, the last opposition stronghold in the country, and in other parts of neighboring Aleppo that are also escaping Damascus’ control.
These opposition areas are bordering Turkey and are closer to the epicenter, so the difference in the balance could be due to their lower capacity to coordinate the count in the absence of a single government authority in charge of rescue operations.
The first planes carrying supplies and specialized personnel to assist in earthquake rescue efforts arrived today in Damascus government-held areas of Syria from Iraq, Iran, Algeria and Russia, according to the official Syrian news agency SANA.
Syria’s permanent representative to the UN, Bassam Sabbagh, has assured that the Syrian government is “ready” to coordinate assistance to “the entire territory” of the country.
However, to the areas dominated by the opposition this aid is not expected to arrive.The White Helmets, have warned on Tuesday that “time is running out” for the “hundreds” of people who remain trapped.
This organization has appealed to the international community through its Twitter account, to provide material support and aid.”
Only 7 days to rescue survivors
According to a representative of the UN Humanitarian Aid Office, the first to act in cases of disaster, there is only a seven-day window to rescue people who have been buried under the rubble.
This estimate is the result of countless rescue operations around the world, although there may always be exceptions and the victims may have to endure a little more time, as the spokesman of that entity, Jens Laerke, commented when making a first assessment of the human cost of the tragedy.
To rescue the victims, the UN has mobilized disaster assessment and search and rescue teams, made up of the world’s best specialists in these tasks, who are traveling to Turkey.
“The big challenge right now is access by land (for these personnel and their teams) as many roads in the region have been destroyed by the earthquakes,” said Laerke.
Another difficulty is the lack of vehicles to transport the international experts, in response to which local authorities are mobilizing trucks from other provinces in Turkey.
Up to 145 tremors
The first major earthquake was recorded at 4.17 a.m. (01.17 GMT) and had a magnitude of 7.7, according to the Turkish emergency service Afad, with epicenter in Pazarcik in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras.
As many as 145 more tremors followed, one of them of magnitude 7.6 at 10.24 GMT.
“Due to the fact that debris removal work is continuing in many buildings in the earthquake zone, we do not know how much the number of dead and injured will be,” acknowledged in his first statements the Turkish president, who has decreed seven days of national mourning throughout the country.
The earthquake was also strongly felt in Lebanon, including Beirut.
One of the symbols of the enormous destruction was the historic Roman castle of Gaziantep, which had stood for more than 1,700 years and was flattened by the quake.
The historic citadel of Aleppo in Syria, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was also damaged.
International
Pope Francis meets former Gaza hostages
Pope Francis met on Thursday at the Vatican with 16 Israelis who had been held hostage in Gaza for months by the Islamist group Hamas, according to the official Vatican news website.
The group consisted of ten women, four men, and two children, as reported by the same source. Several of the former hostages showed the Argentine pontiff banners or photos of their loved ones who remain in captivity.
Francis had previously met with the families of hostages in April this year and November 2023, but this was the first time he had met with individuals who had personally endured captivity.
Since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began, the pope has repeatedly called for the immediate release of Israeli hostages, while also condemning the suffering of the Palestinian population.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023, when Islamist militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,206 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages who died in captivity.
Of the kidnapped, 97 are still being held in Gaza, but the Israeli military estimates that 34 of them have died.
The military offensive launched by Israel in response has killed at least 43,736 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-governed territory.
International
Israeli airstrikes on Damascus kill 15 and injure 16, including women and children
Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on residential buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and its surroundings on Thursday, resulting in at least 15 deaths and 16 injuries, according to Syria’s Ministry of Defense and state television.
The ministry stated that around 3:20 p.m. local time (12:20 GMT), the Israeli military launched an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, targeting several residential buildings in the Mazzeh neighborhood in western Damascus and the Qudsaya suburb to the northwest of the capital.
The airstrikes “resulted in the death of 15 people and injuries to 16 others, including women and children,” based on initial estimates, in addition to significant damage to private property and civilian buildings, the ministry added.
Meanwhile, state television reported Israeli airstrikes on three buildings in Mazzeh and another on a building in an educational complex located in a residential area of Qudsaya.
Following the strikes, loud explosions were heard throughout the city, and thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the targeted locations. Ambulances and emergency services rushed to the scene to attend to the victims.
International
Drug trafficker dies after boat collision with Guardia Civil Vessel in Sanlúca
Three people were on the boat that collided with a Guardia Civil vessel around midnight at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near the Andalusian city of Cádiz, a spokesperson for the Civil Guard reported.
Two officers sustained “contusions,” the spokesperson explained.
The drug traffickers managed to bring the boat to shore, where one of them was “abandoned” severely injured. The other two fled.
The Civil Guard officers attempted to resuscitate the victim before transporting him to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, but he ultimately died early in the morning.
The other two suspects took advantage of the officers’ absence while they were taking the victim and returned to set their boat on fire.
The collision occurred very close to the site of another accident on September 1, where a drug trafficker died following a Guardia Civil pursuit.
The suspects’ boat traveled “400 meters” before crashing head-on and “at full speed” into the riverbank, where a hundred bundles of hashish were found.
Mulino warns Trump: Darién is U.S.’s ‘other border’ in call for bilateral solutions to migration
Pope Francis meets former Gaza hostages
Israeli airstrikes on Damascus kill 15 and injure 16, including women and children
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Ecuador prison riot leaves at least 43 dead
-
Central America3 days agoBukele begins official visit to Costa Rica based on security, cooperation and trade
-
Central America2 days agoNicaraguan Naval Force seizes cocaine on Pacific Coast, suspects escape
-
Central America2 days agoEl Salvador delivers aid to Costa Rica amid severe flooding and red alerts
-
Central America2 days agoBukele urges Costa Rica to reform prison system amid rising crime rates
-
International2 days agoMarco Rubio considered for Secretary of State in Trump administration, reports say
-
International2 days agoSheinbaum pledges support for mexican migrants amid U.S. border enforcement plans
-
International3 days agoDaniel Ortega turns 79: 29 in power, 17 “governing from below”, and 7 in prison
-
International3 days agoLe procureur vénézuélien dénonce une campagne visant à présenter les “criminels” comme prisonniers politiques
-
International3 days agoLes migrants qui ont été retenus en Albanie par le gouvernement de Meloni arriveront ce soir en Italie
-
International4 days agoShooting at Tuskegee University leaves one dead and several injured
-
International2 days agoElon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency
-
International1 day agoMálaga paralyzed by new storm as torrential rains hit Spain
-
International3 days agoA US flight to Haiti is deflected after being shot when approaching Port-au-Prince
-
International2 days agoPresident-elect Trump chooses Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense
-
International1 day agoSeven bodies found with signs of torture in Sinaloa
-
International1 day agoHezbollah launches explosive drone strike on Israel’s defense headquarters
-
International3 days agoIrish mobster Hutch is rending for general elections after arrest in Spain
-
International1 day agoEcuadorian judge orders preventive detention for nine inmates after deadly prison clashes
-
Internacionales2 days ago
Mexico deploys 12,000 security agents to Guerrero amid escalating violence
-
Internacionales4 days agoTropical storm Rafael weakens over gulf of Mexico after devastating Cuba
-
International1 day agoSantiago Uribe cleared of homicide and paramilitary charges
-
International3 days agoTrump appoints an ally without experience in the sector to the environmental agency
-
International1 day agoTrump nominates Matt Gaetz as attorney general
-
International1 day agoMarco Rubio to become first latino U.S. diplomacy chief under Trump
-
International3 days agoThe court of El Salvador postpones the preliminary hearing for the massacre of Jesuit parents in 1989
-
Central America36 mins agoMulino warns Trump: Darién is U.S.’s ‘other border’ in call for bilateral solutions to migration
-
International42 mins agoIsraeli airstrikes on Damascus kill 15 and injure 16, including women and children
-
International56 mins agoVenezuelan opposition activist dies in custody amid allegations of repressive crisis
-
International44 mins agoDrug trafficker dies after boat collision with Guardia Civil Vessel in Sanlúca
-
International1 hour ago
Aemet downgrades rainfall alert as heavy rains ease in Spain
-
Central America1 hour agoTen dead in Panama due to storms causing over $100 million in damages
-
International58 mins agoMaria Corina Machado sees clear signs for Venezuela after Trump’s victory
-
International39 mins agoPope Francis meets former Gaza hostages