Turkey earthquake rescue disrupted by security concerns as death toll rises

A worsening security situation in southern Turkey has disrupted rescue efforts following Monday’s deadly earthquake, international groups have said.

The combined death toll from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria has surpassed 25,000 and hope is fading of finding many more survivors, despite cases of miraculous rescues.

German rescue workers and the Austrian army paused their search operations on Saturday, citing clashes between unnamed groups.

Austria’s ministry of defence later said that the Turkish army had stepped in to offer its protection, allowing its rescue operations to continue.

There have also been reports of looting, and Turkey’s president said he would use emergency powers to punish anyone breaking the law.

There were reports early on Saturday that clashes between unidentified groups in the Hatay province had left dozens of personnel from the Austrian Forces Disaster Relief Unit seeking shelter in a base camp with other international organisations.

“There is increasing aggression between factions in Turkey,” Lieutenant Colonel Pierre Kugelweis of the Austrian Armed Forces said in a statement, made before the Austrian rescue operation resumed. “The chances of saving a life bears no reasonable relation to the safety risk.”

This assessment was echoed by the German branch of the search and rescue group ISAR, which, along with Germany’s Federal Agency for Technical Relief (TSW), also suspended operations.

“There are more and more reports of clashes between different factions, shots have also been fired,” said ISAR spokesperson Stefan Heine.

Steven Bayer, operations manager of Isar, said he expected security to worsen due to the dwindling food and water supply, and hope fading.

“We are watching the security situation very closely as it develops,” he said.

German rescue teams said they would also resume work as soon as Turkish authorities deem the situation safe, Reuters news agency reported.

While Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hasn’t commented on the reported unrest in Hatay, he did reiterate on Saturday that the government would take action against those involved in crimes in the region.

“We’ve declared a state of emergency,” Mr Erdogan said during a visit to the disaster zone today. “It means that, from now on, the people who are involved in looting or kidnapping should know that the state’s firm hand is on their backs.”

State media reported on Saturday that 48 people had been arrested for looting, according to AFP. Turkish state media reported several guns were seized, along with cash, jewellery and bank cards.

Mehmet Bok, 26, searching for a work colleague in a collapsed building in Antakya, told Reuters: “People were smashing the windows and fences of shops and cars.”

The quake has been described as the “worst event in 100 years in this region” by the United Nations aid chief, who was in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras on Saturday.

“I think it’s the worst natural disaster that I’ve ever seen and it’s also the most extraordinary international response,” Martin Griffiths told the BBC’s Lyse Doucet in Turkey.

“We have more than a hundred countries who have sent people here so there’s been incredible response but there’s a need for it,” he added.

Mr Griffiths has called for regional politics to be put aside in the face of the disaster – and there are some signs that this is happening.

The border crossing between long-feuding Armenia and Turkey reopened on Saturday for the first time in 35 years to allow aid through.

And there are reports that the Syrian government has agreed to let UN aid into areas controlled by opposition groups, with whom they have been engaged in a bitter civil war since 2011.

The death toll in Syria from the earthquake now stands at more than 3,500, according to AFP. There has been criticism that the international effort to send aid to Syria has not been fast enough.

Ismail al Abdullah of the Syrian Civil Defence Force, or White Helmets, which operates in rebel-held areas, told the BBC’s Quentin Sommerville that the organisation had stopped searching for survivors.

The international community has “blood on its hands,” he said. “We needed rescue equipment that never came.”