News Wrap: Blinken visits Turkey, pledges more disaster aid after quakes
Good evening. I'm John Yang. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Turkey tonight for a firsthand look at the devastation from the earthquakes that hit the region nearly two weeks ago. Blinken took with him a U.S. pledge of an additional $100 million in disaster aid to help the country rebuild. Words of consolation for the Turkish foreign minister before the two headed out on a helicopter tour of the destruction in southern Turkey.
It's really hard to put into words. You see buildings still standing and then buildings collapse. The search and rescue, unfortunately, is coming to an end. The recovery operation is on. And then there'll be a massive rebuilding effort. But that rebuilding effort can't start until mountains of debris are cleared away. Tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed.
And that work is slow as bulldozer operators sift through debris for bodies, hoping to give grieving families a sense of closure. It's very important for our people to have a grave. A family says, find a piece of them so we can have a grave. Nearly two weeks after the quake set, the death toll is still climbing, and workers are finding fewer and fewer signs of life under the rubble. An untold number of people are still unaccounted for it. In Syria, aid has been slow to arrive and held up at the border. Some families have banded together.
Before we were four families in one house. Now we are some 12 families. We uncover ourselves to keep them warm. We offer them anything we can. Our home didn't collapse. It was just damaged. Thank God.
The World Health Organization estimates 26 million people urgently need help with shelter, medicine and psychological support. Survivors in both Syria and Turkey experienced enormous trauma. 17-year-old Tahaa Erdem thought he would die beneath the rubble. I think this is the last video I will ever shoot for you. I am dead if I am not wrong. His family was trapped nearby. When I was under the rubble, I was yelling, Tahaa, Tahaa.
Neither my voice was going across to Tahaa, nor was Tahaa's voice coming across to me. All the Erdem children survived, but many others did not. One activist honored them with balloons. I wanted this activity to be called my last present to children. Every time we tie a balloon, my heart hurts. We have tied 1,000, 1,500 balloons so far, but we will hopefully continue until we reach all parts of the city, until we reach every home of the children who lost their lives. Balloons are for the living, too.
At this humanitarian camp, young survivors played with volunteers this weekend and learned to cope with all they have lost. In the nearby Syrian capital of Damascus, state media says that Israeli airstrikes on residential areas have left at least five people dead and more than a dozen wounded. The strikes destroyed several apartment buildings and left a gaping crater in a street. Emergency responders combed through the rubble for survivors. There's been no Israeli comment, but Israeli has previously acknowledged targeting Iranian-backed militant groups in Syria. In Memphis, Tennessee, one person is dead and 10 others injured in a pair of overnight shootings. Police believe the two incidents are connected.
No arrests have been made, but police have identified several persons of interest. Memphis is the city still on edge after last month's fatal police beating of Tyree Nichols. And the incident adds to the mass shootings across the country in recent days. Six people were killed and one injured in rural Mississippi on Friday. Three students died and five were injured on Michigan State University's campus Monday night. The Michigan State resumes classes tomorrow, despite some calls for delay. And actor Richard Belzer has died.
Belzer began his career as a stand-up comedian, but he became better known as the wise-cracking TV police detective John Munch on homicide, life on the street, and law and order SVU. You had one hell of a run, Sergeant Munch. Did I? I don't know where it all went. The friend? Yeah. Richard Belzer was 78 years old. Still to come on PBS News Weekend, the selling of personal data collected by mental health apps and a conversation with the coach of the last remaining swim team at an historically black college. This is PBS News Weekend from WETA Studios in Washington, home of the PBS News Hour, nights on PBS.
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