MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. A large number of people are still buried under the rubble of buildings that collapsed as a result of the devastating earthquake in northeastern Syria and rescuers are holding out hope of finding survivors, Director of Syria’s Civil Defense Major General Safwan Bahloul told TASS on Monday.
"A lot of earthquake victims are still buried under the rubble <…>. Even if now, several days after [the quake], the probability of finding [survivors] is very low, we are still clinging to hope," he said.
According to Bahloul, the cities of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, and Jabla were the hardest hit by the calamity. The Syrian authorities are sparing no effort to save people from under the debris and render relief aid to people.
Two powerful 7.7-magnitude and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes rocked Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province, located in the country’s southeast, on February 6. The tremors, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, were felt in ten provinces as well as in neighboring countries, including Syria. According to the Syrian health ministry, the death toll from the quake on government-controlled territories has climbed to 1,414. As many as 2,349 people were injured and taken to hospitals.