Rescue operations continue in Turkey, Syria as hope of finding earthquake survivors fades

Geoff Bennett:

Good evening, and welcome to the "NewsHour."

The death toll from the catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria has risen to nearly 21,000 with no end in sight.

Amna Nawaz:

Aid is slowly starting to trickle in, but, for many, it is too little, too late.

Jane Ferguson reports tonight from Antakya, capital of Hatay Province in Turkey. Much of Hatay and neighboring Idlib province in Syria now lie in ruins.

Jane Ferguson:

Bodies gathered from the rubble in Antakya are everywhere, collected and labeled and stored in the street. No buildings are trusted anymore.

Fresh running water is too scarce for the religious rites of the dead. An older tradition of clean soil is now used here to dignify the bodies. The heartbroken come to the cemetery to claim their loved ones. Few here held out hope they would find their missing family members any other place. But, still, the grief comes in waves.

Gonul Us has seen 10 members of her extended family arrive here in body bags. More are missing, she tells us.

Gonul Us, Turkish Earthquake Survivor (through translator):

I live in a separate building from some of the rest of my family. I went to look for my mother, my sisters-in-law, cousins, aunts. We know that they didn't make it outside because they are missing.

Jane Ferguson:

Her cousin Hamza Saart lost a horrifying list of people dear to him.

Man (through translator):

My mother, my brother, my wife, my son, my daughter.

Jane Ferguson:

Still in shock, he says he remembers little of the days since Monday's earthquake destroyed his home and his life. Since then hundreds of thousands like Gonul have had to grieve while homeless, destitute in a city that has no more safe housing.

Gonul Us (through translator):

I was with my daughter last night and had no roof over our heads. The last couple of days have been misery. It is only today that we received help. We built a fragile tent for ourselves with the pieces of cloth we found here and there in the street.

Jane Ferguson:

Antakya was one of the hardest-hit areas in Turkey when the quake struck. But it was also one of the last to get any outside help.

Help has finally arrived here in the very south of Turkey. But it's really just today that you saw rescue crews like this and equipment like this making its way in here. Much of this city has had to cope by itself for several days.

The Turkish government has worked to clamp down on criticism here of its response to the crisis. People complain off-camera that they were left to fend for themselves for too long. In nearby Iskenderun, a fire that broke out among shipping containers at the port continues to rage, as rescue teams search among what's left of the city.

President Erdogan visited the city of Gaziantep today, close to the quake's epicenter. He joined survivors now living in a tent city to pray for the dead. Erdogan's reelection in May could very well hinge on his response to this disaster. Today, he assured displaced families that help is on the way.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkish President (through translator):

While the damage assessment is under way, in this transition moment, we will provide $530 in financial aid to our citizens. And with this financial aid, we want at least to alleviate their problems a little bit.

Jane Ferguson:

Meanwhile, the first convoy of U.N. humanitarian assistance finally reached Northwest Syria from Turkey after being stalled when the only aid crossing was damaged in the earthquake.

It's bringing much-needed medicine blankets, tents, and other supplies to the rebel-controlled area.

Sanjana Quazi, United Nations:

We need the cross-border assistance to continue in these very early days, because as — if we do not, every day, every moment, we're losing more and more people.

Jane Ferguson:

But the White Helmets organization said the U.N. assistance is part of regularly scheduled aid deliveries to Syria organized before the quake and not specific aid and equipment for the disaster relief effort.

Angela Kearney works for UNICEF. She says the humanitarian situation in war-torn Syria is especially dire.

Angela Kearney, UNICEF. They need water, clean drinking water. They need sanitation, places that they can go to the bathroom. And, in many cases, they also need mental health support and psychosocial support, especially for the children. It's a very bewildering time to be woken up in the middle of the night and now not have a home.

Or some of them have lost family members, and so they need to grieve for that. But it's that life is very, very different now.

Jane Ferguson:

Many Syrians are growing more and more frustrated that international aid still hasn't reached them yet, three days after the quake struck.

Samer Hassani lived with his relatives in the quake-hit city of Bisina. He lost six members of his family.

Samer Hassani, Syrian Earthquake Survivor (through translator):

We're still looking for one of my cousins. She's 19. We have been looking for her on for four days now, and haven't found her anywhere, not in the hospitals, nor anywhere else.

Jane Ferguson:

Further compounding the misery, one northwestern village became inundated with water today after the Afrin Dam, damaged days earlier in the quake, collapsed.

Ammar Zaidan, Syrian Earthquake Survivor (through translator):

We just want people to help us to shelter these women and children. As you can see, our homes are flooded and destroyed.

Jane Ferguson:

In the city of Salqin in Idlib province, 10-year-old Fadi Haidar, one of the few lucky ones, he holds on to his father. The two and his mother and brother were rescued with few injuries after being trapped under debris for several hours.

Fadi Haidar, Syrian Earthquake Survivor (through translator):

We were here. We were here under the rubble. We were sleeping in the bedroom, and then the building started falling on us. I was next to my mom, and my brother was trapped under the ceiling.

We got them out. We all got out thank God.

Jane Ferguson:

Haidar struggles to find all that he has lost. His family is one of only two that survived in a village of 500 people. What's left of his village is a pile of rubble and a faint memory of what once was.

Fadi Haidar (through translator):

The building here, they brought out children. These were our friends who we used to play with. They all died. We used to play ball with them down there. They all died. Every day, played together. They all died.

Jane Ferguson:

Time is running out for any remaining survivors, but he and his cousins have a message. No aid has reached Northwest Syria.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jane Ferguson in Antakya, Turkey.