(WFLA) — A small dog was pulled from rubble in Samandag on Tuesday after devastating earthquakes claimed more than 35,000 lives across Turkey and Syria, Turkish officials said.
A video posted to the Mayor of Istanbul’s Twitter account shows rescue workers carrying the dog away from a pile of debris.
The mayor’s office said the dog’s owners had moved to Samandag after surviving an earthquake in Izmir in 2020, but were killed in the latest earthquakes.
“Unfortunately, only this little friend of ours could be pulled out of the wreckage alive,” the mayor’s office said, according to a Google translation.
On Tuesday, the United Nations chief launched a $397 million appeal to help nearly 5 million earthquake survivors.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the devastation from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that ravaged southern Turkey and northwestern Syria on Feb. 6 “is one of the worst in recent memory,” and “we all know that lifesaving aid has not been getting in at the speed and scale needed.”
He said the $397 million will provide “desperately needed, life-saving relief for nearly 5 million Syrians — including shelter, health care, food and protection” for three months.
Storyful and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
