Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1492662
15 WORLD NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 15 FEBRUARY 2023 RESCUE teams in southern Turkey say they are still hearing voices from under the rub- ble more than a week after a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake, offering a glimmer of hope of finding more survivors. Live images broadcast on CNN affiliate CNN Turk showed rescuers working in two areas of the Kahramanmaras region, where they were trying to save three sis- ters believed to be buried under the debris. In the same region, rescuers pulled an 18-year-old boy and a man alive from the rubble on Tuesday – a day after they saved a 10-year-old girl believed to have been buried for around 185 hours. Eight days after the tremor and its vio- lent aftershocks, more than 36,000 people have been confirmed dead and survival stories are becoming few and far between. On Monday, United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said during a visit to the northern Syrian city of Aleppo that the rescue phase of the response was "coming to a close." "And now the humanitarian phase, the urgency of providing shelter, psychosocial care, food, schooling, and a sense of the future for these people, that's our obliga- tion now," he said. After announcing an end to their search and rescue operation last week, the "White Helmets" group, officially known as Syr- ia Civil Defense, on Monday declared a seven-day mourning period in rebel-con- trolled areas in the north of the country. International aid has been slow to arrive in rebel-held parts of Syria, complicated by years of conflict and an already existing humanitarian crisis that has led to extra difficulties for survivors who lack food, shelter and medicine as they face freezing conditions. On Monday, the UN said it welcomed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's deci- sion to open two more border crossings between Turkey and Syria to allow aid in- to the north of the country. Meanwhile, Turkey's Vice President Fuat Oktay on Tuesday denied reports of food and aid shortages. There were "no prob- lems with feeding the public" and "mil- lions of blankets are being sent to all are- as," he said on live television. Turkey's Foreign Ministry said more than 9,200 foreign personnel are taking part in the country's search and rescue op- erations, while 100 countries have offered help so far. Turkey rescuers say voices are still being heard under the rubble Search and rescue efforts continue in Kahramanmaras, Turkey Shelters and temporary camps on the outskirts of Jenderes, northwest Syria