The death toll from Monday’s earthquakes in southern Turkey, near the Syrian border, has risen to more than 17,500, including about 14,300 in Turkish territory, according to the latest figures released by the authorities of both countries and the Syrian Civil Defense, known as the ‘white helmets’.
The Turkish Vice President, Fuat Oktay, has indicated that so far 14,351 people have been confirmed dead in the country, while 63,794 have been injured. «The earthquake affected an area of about 110,000 square kilometers, which is equal to or larger than the area of many countries in Europe,» he has said.
«This earthquake is the third largest in the last 2,000 years, since the 1668 earthquake and the Erzincan earthquake in 1939,» Oktay said during an appearance before parliament, Turkish state news agency Anatolia reported.
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed from the province of Hatay that the state of emergency announced on Tuesday for a period of three months in the ten provinces affected by the earthquakes will be approved during the day by the Parliament.
Erdogan, who went to the area affected by the earthquakes on Wednesday, stressed that the authorities «are on the ground since the earthquakes with all state institutions» and defended that the application of the state of emergency «will allow to intervene against seditious groups that abuse the process for corrupt practices».
He has also promised to take all necessary measures to help the victims, as reported by the ‘Daily Sabah’ newspaper. «Don’t worry. Just as we recovered from the earthquakes in Bingol, Malatya, Elazig and Izmir — all recorded in recent years — and just as quickly as we rebuilt houses, we will recover from this and complete reconstruction in a short period of time,» he stressed.
The Turkish government has set up a Crisis Management Center at the Defense Ministry to «cope with this great disaster» in order to transport rescue personnel and equipment via an air relief bridge. The Turkish president said Tuesday that the country is «facing one of the biggest disasters not only in the history of the Republic, but also of the region and the world.»
The earthquakes have left more than 3,000 people dead and 5,000 injured in Syria, of which 1,262 dead and 2,285 injured have been recorded in the areas of Syria controlled by the authorities, according to Syrian Health Ministry data collected by the Syrian state news agency, SANA. These data correspond to the provinces of Aleppo, Hama, Latakia, Tartus and Idlib areas held by government forces.
To the Syrian government figures must be added more than 1,900 dead and 2,950 wounded in rebel-held areas in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo (northwest), according to the Syrian Civil Defense, known as ‘white helmets’, through its Twitter account, where it has insisted that «the balance is expected to increase significantly, as hundreds of families remain trapped under the rubble more than 75 hours after the quake.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
