“We have established soup kitchens in earthquake-hit areas. We distribute hot meals to 25 thousand people daily only in Adıyaman, and we continue humanitarian aid activities uninterruptedly by forming teams in each neighborhood in cooperation with other humanitarian aid organizations,” Cengiz Kurtaran, the head of Hope Caravan Foundation, told Ilke News Agency.

Stating that especially in the first days of the earthquake, search and rescue works were wholly inadequate in Adıyaman, Kurtaran said: “We arrived in Adıyaman for humanitarian aid. We didn't have the tools to carry out search and rescue work.  In all the regions we went to, we saw that people needed food and drink in the first place. There are collapsed buildings on every street in the city. Currently, the ongoing search and rescue efforts are still inadequate. Although it is the 5th day after the quake, people are waiting for their loved ones to be rescued from the rubble.”

On Monday, a catastrophic and deadly earthquake struck southern and central Turkey and western Syria.

The earthquake was followed by numerous aftershocks, including an unusually powerful magnitude of 7.5 nine hours after the main quake.

About 25,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands injured in both countries. (ILKHA)