Turkey

ISTANBUL, Feb 11 (Reuters) - A border gate between long-feuding Turkey and Armenia has been opened for the first time in 35 years to allow aid for victims of the devastating earthquakes in southern Turkey, state-owned Anadolu news agency and a diplomat said.

Turkey's special envoy for Armenia, Serdar Kilic, tweeted photos of trucks passing through the Alican checkpoint at the Turkish side of the Aras river separating the two countries.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power 20 years ago riding a wave of public outrage toward the previous government’s handling of a deadly earthquake.

Now, three months away from an election, Erdogan’s political future could hinge on how the public perceives his government’s response to a similarly devastating natural disaster.

ANTAKYA, Turkey (AP) — Rescue teams in Turkey on Saturday pulled to safety a family of five who survived inside their collapsed home for five days following a major earthquake in a sprawling border region of Turkey and Syria. The death toll, however, was approaching 25,000.

They first extricated mother and daughter Havva and Fatmagul Aslan from among a mound of debris in the hard-hit town of Nurdagi, in Gaziantep province, HaberTurk reported. The teams later reached the father, Hasan Aslan, but he insisted that his other daughter, Zeynep, and son Saltik Bugra be saved first.

10 Feb 2023; MEMO: A radar system developed by the Turkish state-run Defence company, STM, is saving lives in the earthquake-ravaged areas of Turkiye, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The through-the-wall DAR radar system can locate people through the mounds of debris.

STM lead technician, Yusuf Hayirli, told Anadolu the DAR radar system designed for the defence industry was used out of its field for the first time in an earthquake zone.

10 Feb 2023; MEMO: Turkish footballer Merih Demiral announced on Friday that the shirt of Argentinian star Lionel Messi would be auctioned online to collect donations for victims of the devastating earthquake in Turkiye.

Demiral, who plays for the Italian team Atalanta B.C., tweeted: "Messi's shirt worn in one of the matches and was personally signed by him, is being auctioned off."

He added: "All proceeds from the sale will be donated to the Turkish NGO AHBAP for use in the areas hit by the earthquake."

10 Feb 2023; MEMO: Drone footage in southern Turkiye showed fissures slicing and cracking across fields, roads, streams and hillsides, caused by a massive earthquake that struck the region at the start of the week, Reuters reports.

One jagged scar of bare and cracked earth, opened up by Monday's quake, cut deep into embankments and ran along expanses of open land up to the horizon near the town of Tevekkeli, in Turkiye's southern province of Kahramanmaras.

10 Feb 2023; MEMO: The presence of mind of a 19-year-old girl saved her entire family from getting trapped under the rubble of their house when two deadly earthquakes struck southern Turkiye, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Umit Aslanoglu got out of her bed when her dog started barking incessantly.

Just as she felt the first tremors, she woke up her brother, mother and aunt, who all lived with her in Antakya, a district in one of the worst hit provinces, Hatay.

10 Feb 2023; MEMO: Several Arab countries have extended vital support, with rescue teams and relief supplies, to help in earthquake relief operations in Turkiye and Syria.

More than 19,300 people have died and over 77,700 others were injured after two strong earthquakes jolted southern Turkiye on Monday, according to the latest official figures.

ANTAKYA, Turkey/JANDARIS, Syria, Feb 10, (Reuters) - Rescue crews saved a 10-day-old baby and his mother trapped in ruins of a building in Turkey on Friday and dug several people from other sites as President Tayyip Erdogan said authorities should have reacted faster to this week's huge earthquake.

The confirmed death toll from the deadliest quake in the region in two decades stood at more than 22,000 across southern Turkey and northwest Syria four days after it hit.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey has for years tempted fate by not enforcing modern construction codes while allowing — and in some cases, encouraging — a real estate boom in earthquake-prone areas, experts say.

The lax enforcement, which experts in geology and engineering have long warned about, is gaining renewed scrutiny in the aftermath of this week’s devastating earthquakes, which flattened thousands of buildings and killed more than 20,000 people across Turkey and Syria.