Hope, resources dwindle as rescue ops continue in earthquake-hit Syria

Monday's mega earthquake in the region has killed more than 28,000 people, including at least 3,574 in Syria

As Syria's earthquake rescue efforts near the one week mark, an unsettling silence blankets the area as a search dog sniffs around a flattened home in the coastal town of Jableh.

It has been hours since the last rescue, when two people were pulled from the rubble by rescuers with only the most basic equipment.

"There is no hope" for survivors, said Alaa Moubarak, the head of Jableh's civil defence.

"Even so, with every step, we stop and scream: is anyone alive?"

The canine trained to detect life circles the area for 30 minutes and trots back without a single bark.

There are no more survivors.

This scene plays out almost daily in Jableh, where the hopes of finding anyone alive under the rubble are quickly vanishing amid a lack of resources.

Of the 52 residents of the five-storey building being searched, only 14 have made it out alive.

They include a woman and her young son who were lifted from beneath the rubble Friday to a jubilant crowd that held out hopes that more could still be alive beneath the building.

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The woman died en route to the hospital.

Jableh is located in Latakia, a province largely under government control and one of the worst hit by the earthquake.

Monday's 7.8-magnitude quake that struck near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Syrian border, killed more than 28,000 people, including at least 3,574 in Syria.

In Latakia province alone, the quake has killed at least 638 people, according to local authorities.

The canine scavenging the rubble on Saturday is only one of a handful available in the region.

It was flown in by a 42-member search and rescue team from the United Arab Emirates, equipped with sensors, search cameras, special drills and fuel containers.

"If we had this kind of equipment, we would have saved hundreds of lives, if not more," said Moubarak.

Other teams on the ground lack the means and advanced search equipment, often digging with nothing but their hands or shovels.

"For 12 years we have not received new equipment... 90 percent of our stock is out of service," said Moubarak.

Depleted by war, Syria lacks the most basic resources, let alone search and rescue equipment.

A punishing energy crisis means the country can barely provide electricity and fuel for cars, forcing international rescue teams to source their own stock as part of planning efforts.

At the foot of another flattened building around 500 metres (1,640 feet) away, a construction engineer affiliated with Syria's defence ministry echoed similar concerns.

"We don't have any modern high-tech devices... like those that detect openings, or equipment for rescue and communications," said the man, who asked not be identified because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

"Our work can mainly be described as manual labour."

In Jableh's dense neighbourhoods, hundreds of spectators gather at every search site, crowding around rescue teams to provide information on which victims are still unaccounted for.

Some watch from windowsills so close to the destruction that they could reach out and scoop up the debris in their hands.

The rescue dogs often run in their direction, identifying them as the closest living body.

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Mohammad al-Hamadi watched from the pavement as the Emirati team dug through what was once his residence, now reduced to shreds of concrete.

The 23-year-old -- who had to be carried into the search and rescue zone because the quake nearly crushed his right leg -- is the sole survivor of his family.

Both his parents and his brother, who was sleeping in bed beside him, all lost their lives in the tragedy.

"The building caved over our heads. I was completely buried," he said, adding that only his finger poked through the concrete chunks.

"They had to lift me by the finger."

Nearby, Colonel Hamad al-Kaabi, the head of the Emirati rescue force, said the chance of finding survivors at this point was so slim that emergency teams were permitted to use excavators and heavy machinery to clear the rubble.

"We are in stage four, which is an advanced stage of rescue operations, with most survivors already pulled out," he said.

"But there is still a chance to find survivors."