• Tayyip Erdogan admitted that the response to a deadly earthquake in southern Turkey had flaws.
• The death toll in Turkey and neighboring Syria surpassed 15,000 people.
• Rescuers are still locating some survivors.

Turkey: President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that his government’s first response to a deadly earthquake in southern Turkey had flaws, amid outrage from those left homeless and disappointed by the sluggish arrival of rescue crews.

Erdogan, who is running for re-election in May, said on a visit to the disaster area that operations had resumed smoothly and that no one would be left homeless, as the combined recorded death toll in Turkey and neighboring Syria surpassed 15,000 people.

People sought temporary shelter and food in frigid winter weather over a region of southern Turkey and waited in agony by piles of rubble where family and friends might still be buried.

Rescuers were still locating some survivors. However, many Turks have complained about a lack of equipment, knowledge, and support to rescue individuals who are trapped, even when they can hear pleas for aid.

“Where is the state? Where have they been for two days? We are begging them. Let us do it, we can get them out,” Sabiha Alinak said near a snow-covered collapsed building in the city of Malatya where her young relatives were trapped.

Similar pictures and concerns were reported in neighboring Syria, whose north was severely damaged by Monday’s massive earthquake.

Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations admitted the government had a “lack of capabilities and lack of equipment,” blaming more than a decade of civil war in his country and Western sanctions.

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