Turkey-Syria earthquake UPDATES: Death toll surpasses 28,000, WHO chief Tedros visits quake-hit sites with aid

Turkish justice officials targeted more than 130 people allegedly involved in shoddy and illegal construction methods as rescuers extricated more survivors, including a pregnant woman and two small children, six days after a pair of earthquakes collapsed thousands of buildings.

The seventh Operation Dost flight reached earthquake-hit Syria on Sunday with over 23 tons of relief material which was received by Deputy Minister of Local Administration & Environment Moutaz Douaji at Damascus airport, reported news agency ANI.

Two people have miraculous escape on Sunday after rescuers pulled them out of the debris of devastating earthquake that jolted Turkey on February 6. Rescue teams saved a 35-year-old man, Mustafa Sarigul, from the rubble of a six storeyed building in Hatay's Antakya district, Anadolu News Agency reported. Sarigul, who was trapped under the debris for 146 hours, was pulled out in five hours by rescue teams. Eylul Kilic, in Gaziantep's Nizip district, was also rescued from debris of collapsed buildings. Killic was at her aunt's home when the quakes rocked the region. The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes affected more than 13 million people across 10 provinces, including Hatay, Gaziantep, Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

Turkey and Armenia opened their border gate for the first time in 30 years for the passage of humanitarian aid for the victims affected by the devastating earthquakes that hit the former, Anadolu Agency reported.Taking to Twitter, Turkey's special representative for normalization talks with Armenia, Serdar Kilic said that the Armenia delegation with five trucks overloaded with 100 tonnes of food, medicine and drinking water passed through the Alican border gate.

Mountain of debris and rubble of flattened buildings lie in the open in Antakya city amid the aftermath of devastation caused by powerful earthquakes. 

Germany will grant three-month visas to Turkish and Syrian earthquake victims with family in the country, the interior minister said on Saturday."This is emergency aid," German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the daily newspaper Bild. "We want to allow Turkish or Syrian families in Germany to bring their close relatives from the disaster area to their homes without bureaucracy," added Faeser.More than 28,000 people were killed in the devastating earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria on Monday.It reached 28,192 on Saturday (local time), with Turkey's death toll climbing to 24,617, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said in a news conference.In Syria, the total number of confirmed deaths stands at 3,575, including 2,167 in rebel-held areas in the northwest, according to the White Helmets civil defense group.

The devastating earthquakes that shook southern Turkey and northern Syria was the "worst event" to hit the region in a century, a senior official from the United Nations said. "What happened here on Monday, the epicentre of the earthquake, was the worst event in 100 years in this region," Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told reporters in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras on Saturday. More than 100 countries have sent emergency response teams to Turkey, but "we're going to need more than that," Griffiths said. The UN would launch the appeal to raise money for agencies to come and help the people who've been affected, he added. "We have a clear plan tomorrow (or) the day after to give an appeal for a three-month operation to help the people of Turkey with humanitarian assistance, and we will do some similar one for the people of Syria," he said. As they are coming to the end of the rescue phase, the UN official expressed concern for the second phase of the disaster, Xinhua news agency reported. "The second phase of a natural disaster of this size is often a medical one, where we have huge worries here and in Syria, of the health problems which have been going on treated," he noted.

The Indian Army has set up a field hospital in the Hatay region of Iskenderun in earthquake-hit Turkey to help victims, as part of the ongoing 'Operation Dost'. The Army has been providing medical aid and relief material to the people in a school building where the 60 Para Field hospital has been set up. Lieutenant Colonel Adarsh, second-in-command, 60 Para Field Hospital, said that their team consists of 96 persons and has orthopaedic specialists, surgeons, and maxillofacial surgeons to take care of multi-trauma cases that are expected in such a disaster. He said that they have performed 10 surgeries, including the amputation of a patient who had recovered from the rubble.Lieutenant Colonel Adarsh said that local people are grateful for the services that they are being provided by the Indian doctors.

The seventh Operation Dost flight on Saturday departed for earthquake-hit Syria and Turkey. The Indian Air Force C17 carrying relief material, medical aid, emergency and critical care medicines, medical equipment and consumables took off from Hindon Airbase in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad. The IAF aircraft with relief material, medical aid, emergency and critical care medicines will first land in Syria and unload material and then head to Turkey. EAM S Jaishankar also took to his Twitter handle to inform about the flight departing from Ghaziabad.

The 60 Para Field hospital has garnered appreciation from the world over for its selfless service to earthquake survivors of Turkey and Syria.This is not the first time that the medical unit is in the limelight. Affectionately called 'angels in maroon berets', the 60th Parachute Field Ambulance unit treated more than 200,000 people between 1950 and 1954. During the Korean War (1950-53), India supported the UN Security Council Resolutions and deployed an Army medical unit; the 60th Parachute Field Ambulance, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel AG Rangaraj.The unit disembarked at Pusan on November 20, 1950, and was initially deployed at Pyongyang on November 29, 1950.It was then divided into two sub units; the 'Forward Element' grouped with 27 British Brigade and the "Administrative Element" located at Daegu to assist the Korean Army Hospital and also treat civilians.The Forward Element was in the thick of action including a major airlift, "OP TOMAHAWK" with the 8th US Army from 23 to 31 March 1953 in the area of Munsan that involved linkup with the 3rd Division US Army and later countering a massive enemy offensive on 22 April 1953.The unit came under the command of the 28 British Brigade on 01 July 1951 with the formation of the Commonwealth Division. It then participated in a series of operations named, "Operation Commando and Operation Killer", until 23 August 1953.

Turkish authorities on Saturday arrested 48 people for looting after a powerful earthquake hit Turkey, reported state media.The suspects were held in eight different provinces as part of investigations into looting after Monday's 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit the region, news agency Anadolu said. The tremor and its aftershocks killed more than 28,000 people in Turkey and Syria.Prosecutors can now detain people for an extra three days from four days previously for looting crimes as part of extended powers under the state of emergency, according to a decree published in the official gazette.President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier vowed Turkey would crack down on looters."We've announced a state of emergency," he said during a visit to the quake-affected province of Diyarbakir."This means that, from now on, people involved in looting or kidnapping should know that the state's firm hand is on their backs," Erdogan said.Erdogan on Tuesday had announced a three-month state of emergency in the 10 provinces in southeastern Turkey impacted by the tremor.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited the quake-hit Aleppo city in northern Syria, raising hope for more emergency aid to reach Syria in the coming days. The WHO brought 35 ton of relief aid to Aleppo on Saturday as Ghebreyesus reached the city and visited some hospitalised people, shelters where displaced people are staying, and damaged areas. His visit comes in the wake of the deadly earthquake that rocked Syria on Monday, killing 5,000 people in government and rebel-held areas, Xinhua news agency reported. Speaking to reporters during his tour, the WHO Director-General said that easing the US sanctions on Syria within the next 180 days would give a window to bring more emergency supplies and support. According to a UNHCR estimation, 5.3 million people in Syria might have been left homeless by the earthquake.

An Indian national missing since the earthquake in Turkey on February 6 was found dead under the debris of a hotel in Malatya, the Indian Embassy in Turkey informed in a tweet on Saturday. The deceased, identified as Vijay Kumar, was on a business trip to Turkey. "We received a report yesterday that his luggage and passport were found but there wasn't a body. We were hoping for his well-being, that he would have escaped. His father had passed away around a month back and now this has happened," said Gaurav Kala, a relative of Vijay Kumar. Kumar's family members were in deep shock as they learned of the tragic news. They cried inconsolably. He is survived by his mother, wife, and six-year-old child. He had lost his father about one and a half months back.

The death toll across Turkey and Syria following Monday's (February 6) earthquake reached around 28,192 on Saturday (February 11), reported CNN. Turkey's death toll climbed to 24,617, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said in a news conference. In Syria, the total number of confirmed deaths stands at 3,575, including 2,167 in rebel-held areas in the northwest, according to the White Helmets civil defence group. An additional 1,408 deaths have been recorded in government-controlled territories, according to Syrian state media, which cited the country's health ministry.