26 Goal staff dead as death toll from earthquakes tops 21,000

Rescuers supported by heavy machines search a destroyed building in Nurdagi, southeastern Turkey on Thursday. Picture: Petros Giannakouris/AP

Twenty-six staff of the Irish aid agency Goal have been confirmed dead in the Turkey and Syria earthquakes, as the death toll now stands at more than 21,000.

The agency said on Thursday night that its teams are still working around the clock to account for a number of staff, while also supporting the overall search and rescue mission.

“To say it has been a profoundly difficult week for the Goal teams in Türkiye and Syria cannot be overstated. Because of the sheer geography of destruction, and Goal's long-term presence in the communities so severely impacted, the scale of loss is far beyond anything we could have ever imagined” said Goal CEO Siobhán Walsh.

The agency continues to participate in the humanitarian response to the disaster, with teams in Turkey and Syria mobilising to assess needs on the ground. Its staff are also attempting to restart aid programmes that ordinarily offer shelter, access to food, clean water, and health and social supports in the affected areas. 

Destruction in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey on Thursday. Picture: IHA via AP

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has expressed his condolences to Goal on the loss of its personnel. 

“The Goal staff members who lost their lives were carrying out vital humanitarian work to support the people of north-west Syria, who have suffered unimaginably over recent years," he said.

Humanitarian workers put their own lives at risk to support the most vulnerable people in the world. Too often, they pay the ultimate price. 

"I want to offer my sincere condolences to the families of those who lost their lives, as well as to all the Goal teams around the world, for whom this will come as a devastating blow."

“The staff members who died dedicated their lives to supporting people in need of humanitarian care. Each of them leaves a legacy of kindness, compassion and humanity. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamnacha.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the earthquakes yesterday as the "disaster of the century". 

They affected an area that is home to 13.5m people in Turkey and an unknown number in Syria and stretches farther than the distance from London to Paris.

The new death toll, which is certain to rise, included more than 17,600 people in Turkey and more than 3,300 in civil war-torn Syria. Tens of thousands were also injured.