Earthquake death toll rises to 53 as Turkish rescuers race to find survivors

The death toll from an earthquake which toppled buildings in Turkey's third-largest city and triggered a small tsunami has continued to rise as crews work to rescue people from underneath the rubble, reports ABC News.

The earthquake was the second large tremor to strike Turkey this year and came as the government was struggling to contain multiple crises, including a rise in coronavirus cases and a sharp economic downturn. The US Geological Survey said it was a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, while Turkey’s disaster management agency recorded its magnitude as 6.6.

Authorities said 53 people had died — 51 in Turkey and two in Greece.

In the worst-hit Turkish city of Izmir, more than 5,500 rescuers from different agencies worked together to reach survivors, at times hushing the crowds to listen into the rubble with sensitive headphones and crawling through the cracks.

Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) raised the death toll in Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city, to 51 as rescuers pulled more bodies out of buildings.

A 70-year-old man was pulled alive from the rubble of a flattened building early on Sunday local time after being buried under the debris for 33 hours.

The residential "Riza Bey" building was one of 20 residencies that collapsed in Izmir's Bayrakli district, which officials said was in the process of urban transformation due to lack of earthquake resistance.

Earlier, rescue teams made contact with 38-year-old Seher Perincek and her four children — aged 3, 7 and 10-year-old twins — inside a fallen building in Izmir and cleared a corridor to bring them out.

One by one, the mother and three of her children were removed from the rubble as rescuers applauded or hugged.

Turkey's Health Minister, as well as rescue worker Ahmet Yavuz, told HaberTurk television hours later that one of the children had died after being rescued and they were still trying to reach the other child.

AFAD said 896 people were injured in Turkey.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Government would aid victims who lost their homes with temporary housing and rent while starting construction of new buildings.

Authorities warned residents in Izmir not to return to damaged buildings, saying they could collapse in strong aftershocks.

Quake strikes during tension between countries
Two teenagers were killed on the Greek island of Samos after being hit by a collapsing wall on Friday.

At least 19 people were injured on the island, with two, including a 14-year-old who was airlifted to Athens and seven hospitalized on the island, health authorities said.

In a show of cooperation rare in recent months of tense bilateral relations, Greek and Turkish government officials issued mutual messages of solidarity, and the leaders of Greece and Turkey held a telephone conversation.

"I thank President Erdogan for his positive response to my call," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said before travelling to Samos.

On the island, Mr Mitsotakis placed flowers on the site where the teenagers were killed and visited their families.

Turkey is crossed by fault lines and is prone to earthquakes, as is Greece.

Cooperation between the two countries after a devastating quake in 1999 led to a period of warmer ties between them.

Recently warships from both countries have faced off in the eastern Mediterranean in a dispute over maritime boundaries and energy exploration rights.

The quake occurred as Turkey was already struggling with an economic downturn and the coronavirus pandemic.

So far, more than 10,000 people with the virus have died in Turkey. The Health Minister said authorities were distributing masks and disinfectant to protect against Covid-19.