debris of that shot down balloon off of the south carolina coast. and now, residents are forced to evacuate from that train derailment that is a massive inferno. that is what we are watching this hour. i m kristen fisher in for kate bolduan, and we are beginning with the story overseas. a power 7.8 magnitude earthquake has killed more than 2,300 people in turkey and syria, and the death toll is expected to rise significantly possibly into the tense of of thousands. and this is rescue crews frantically searching to survivors, but the efforts are hampered by big aftershocks. we begin with jomana karadsheh in istanbul, turkey, and bring us up to date with the frantic search for survivors. it is an absolutely devastating situation, kristen, and across the border as well, and we have seen the death toll continue to steadily rise over the past few hours where more than 2,300 people confirmed kill and more than 1,500 of them here in turkey and hundreds killed in syria, both in r
know what the russians are there, and if they are capable of helping, so it is very stark on the syrian side. and this is going to need an international response from search and rescue, and humanitarian aid, and as kiylie atwood reported, many countries are giving aid, but as a former ambassador, it is one thing to talk about providing help, but it is another to give the help and deploy the resources effectively, and so how do you go about doing that? the well. it is hard to speak of anything good or even a silver lining of such a dark, dark situation, but the fact is that these disasters can refocus the countries to set aside the political differences, and lord knows even in the united states and turkey, the nato allies have very troubled
fraf francis richard donie, an ambassador from that area, and as you know, this is one of the quakes that is the strongest to hit that area in more than 100 year, and since you know the region so well, what is the biggest concern this morning? well, as is obvious to all of us the magnitude, and the devastation, and the human lost, and the lives lost and the immediate task of the rescue, and as your correspondents have been pointing out, the recovery after the rescue phase and the recovery phase. it is enormous, and i know the area well, and i have very many friends there, and it is quite vivid for me. one of the big concerns this morning, and there are thousands of syrian refugees who have settled in that part of the turkey that has been hit, and a lot the refugees ended up in
embassy and capably led by ambassador fleck, and coordinating the military response with security and food, but in syria, it is not that. it is almost ungoverned space, and there is not a national government presence, and if there is one, it is not capable. the communications, and there is no international correspondents there to start with for communication, and so just finding out is hard. there is a limited international ngo presence there, and it is episodic and whereas on the turkish border international aid organizations have been working in support of the refugees with cross border help, so i worry for the people of northern syria, they have what international presence there is, it is very limited u.s. military presence, and there is a limited turkish military presence, and maybe they can help, and i don t