The death toll from Monday’s earthquakes in southern Turkey, near the Syrian border, has risen to more than 17,000, including nearly 14,000 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 President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has raised to 14,014 the deaths caused by the earthquakes and has indicated that they have also left 63,794 injured, while stressing that the state of emergency announced on Tuesday will be approved during the day by the Parliament, as reported by the Turkish state news agency, Anatolia.
Erdogan, who on Wednesday went to the area affected by the earthquakes, 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».
The government has set up a Crisis Management Center at the Ministry of Defense to «face this great disaster» in order to transport rescue personnel and equipment via an air aid 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.»
Meanwhile, the earthquake has 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 data from the Syrian Ministry of Health 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.
«We are in a race against time and working with the maximum energies available and with the cooperation of all parties,» reads a statement from the Syrian Ministry of Health, which notes that the country’s Executive have reviewed the emergency measures governing the situation.
The Syrian Prime Minister, Husein Arnus, has moved on Wednesday to the province of Latakia (west) to supervise the search and rescue work in the provincial capital, the homonymous Latakia. There he was briefed by local authorities on the ongoing work and met with several residents in the Raml al Shamali neighborhood, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA.
To the Syrian government figures must be added more than 1,900 dead and 2,950 wounded in the areas controlled by the rebels 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 earthquake.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
