By Christian George
Gradually, the two weeks effort of rescueing survivors from the rubble of the earth quake has finally come to an end except in Kahramanmaras and Hatay.
The hope of finding anyone alive is very slim as the 7.8-magnitude earthquake on 6 February has taken many lives and rendered scores homeless.
According to BBC, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Turkey and announced $100m in humanitarian aid.
This happened to be his first trip since he took office more than two years ago.
However, the initial trip was slated prior to the disaster.
He said that new aid “will be moving soon. Sadly, it’s less about search and rescue but long-term recovery. This is going to be a long-term effort”, adding that getting aid into Syria was “very, very challenging”.
His schedule include a visit to Hatay to see humanitarian efforts before travelling to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday where they will discuss issues including Turkey’s refusal to ratify Sweden and Finland’s Nato membership applications.
Though, neither Turkey nor Syria have said how many people are still unaccounted for, it is believed that about 345,000 apartments in Turkey have been destroyed and many people still missing.
“In many of our provinces, search and rescue efforts have been completed,” the disaster agency’s chief, Yunus Sezer said.
