Death Toll Soars Past 5,000 in Turkey and Syria After Powerful Quake Transcript

The death toll from that powerful earthquake in Syria and Turkey has passed 5,000 and continues to climb. A 7.8 magnitude quake hit the region early yesterday, along with multiple aftershocks, including a 7.5 magnitude one that struck just hours later.

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Tens of thousands have been injured, and certain rescue efforts are underway to find people who may still be trapped under the rubble. More than 6,000 buildings collapsed in Turkey according to a state run news agency. The earthquake also brought new devastation to war-ravaged Syria, a regional already plagued by a 12-year civil war and humanitarian crisis.

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NBC News foreign correspondent Matt Bradley has more on one of the deadliest disasters in years.

In Turkey buildings still falling, as the heartbreaking death toll sadly keeps rising. The fear now, more aftershocks. This one captured on live television. The reporter starts to run. You can hear a building crashing down behind him. Later finding a family that somehow made it out alive. That quake hitting 12 hours after the first earthquake, a magnitude 7.8 captured on security cameras bringing down buildings in an instant.

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Here rescuers are combing through rubble when another building collapses nearby. Rescuers racing to find survivors still trapped. “My grandson is 18 months old. Please help my family,” she begged saying her missing relatives had been on the 12th floor.

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The quake hit along the Turkey-Syria border. In Syria, volunteer rescue workers from the White Helmets were used to rescuing civilians from bombings. Many of these victims, refugees who had already lost their homes in war, like 18-month old Raghad. Rescuers saved her life, but her pregnant mother, brother, and sister were killed.

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“The ceiling had directly fallen on them,” said Raghad’s uncle. One survivor in northwest Syria described emergency crews’ desperation.

Some few people working in there with hands.

For this region afflicted by war and now an earthquake help can’t come soon enough.

Turkey has taken in 3.6 million Syrian refugees, many of whom were affected by the earthquake. The United Nations says 2.7 million Syrians live in the northwestern part of the country near Turkey’s border, and the quake’s epicenter. The UN says its refugee agency is not fully operational because of damage to its offices and warehouse.

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Now, several nations, including the US, are sending rescue personnel and supplies to the region. President Biden called Turkey’s president yesterday to express his condolences and coordinate aid. Teams from Virginia’s Taskforce I and the Los Angeles County Fire Department will be deployed, as well as US supported humanitarian groups. We will get a live report from the devastated region ahead in our next hour of Morning Joe. Willie.

Yeah, we woke up this morning to a death toll over 5,000. That number expected to only go up from here, as you said. The United States among many, many nations sending rescue teams into help. We’ll come back to this story.