Aid focus turns to quake survivors

KAHRAMANMARAS/ANTAKYA, Turkiye — International aid agencies are stepping up efforts to help millions of homeless people — many of whom are sleeping in tents, mosques, schools or cars — 11 days after a massive earthquake hit Turkiye and neighboring Syria, killing more than 43,000.

Two people were reported to have been pulled alive from rubble in Turkiye on Thursday, but such rescues have become increasingly rare.

A 17-year-old girl was extracted from the ruins of a collapsed apartment block in Turkiye's southeastern Kahramanmaras province, broadcaster TRT Haber reported, 248 hours after the magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck in the dead of night on Feb 6.

Footage showed her being carried away on a stretcher covered with a thermal blanket while an emergency worker held an intravenous drip.

About 10 hours later, Neslihan Kilic was rescued.

"We had prepared her grave, and we asked the rescue workers to stop digging as we feared they would damage the remaining corpses under the rubble. Moments later, her voice was heard from under the ruins of the building," Kilic's brother-in-law told broadcaster CNN Turk.

Kilic's husband and two children are still missing.

The quake killed at least 38,044 people in southern Turkiye, officials said on Friday, while authorities in neighboring Syria have reported 5,800 deaths — a figure that has changed little in days.

The United Nations on Thursday appealed for more than $1 billion in funds for the Turkish relief operation, just two days after launching a $400 million appeal for Syrians.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, speaking on Thursday in his first televised comments since the quake hit, said the response to the disaster required more resources than the government had available.