Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday declared a three-month state of emergency following Monday’s earthquakes, which have left more than 3,500 dead in the country and nearly 1,500 in northern and northwestern Syria, according to the latest estimates.
«We are facing one of the biggest disasters not only in the history of the Republic, but also of the region and the world,» said Erdogan, who put the death toll at 3,549 and the number of injured at 22,168. «Our greatest consolation is that more than 8,000 citizens have been rescued so far from the rubble,» he added.
He also stressed that the authorities have sent to the affected areas 54,000 tents and 102,000 beds, among other materials. «Our state has started working in the disaster areas with all its institutions, personnel, intermediaries and spirit of mobilization,» he said, according to the Turkish state news agency Anatolia.
Erdogan revealed that the government has mobilized 100 billion Turkish liras (about 4.96 billion euros) for the response and noted that more than 53,000 people are working in the search and rescue work, «a number that is increasing every hour with teams from Turkey and abroad». On the other hand, he confirmed that classes have been suspended until February 13 in the whole country and until a week later «in the disaster area».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
