The death toll from Monday’s earthquakes in southern Turkey, near the Syrian border, has now exceeded 15,000, according to the balance sheets published to date, which include more than 12,000 dead on Turkish territory.
The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), under the Turkish Ministry of Interior, has specified during the early hours of Thursday morning that 12,391 people have lost their lives in their country, while 62,914 have been injured, as reported by the Anatolia agency.
Hours earlier, the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, described the earthquakes as «a great disaster» in the province of Hatay, where he had gone on Wednesday to visit the injured.
The Turkish president stressed during his visit to the area affected by the earthquakes that 6,444 buildings have been destroyed. «We have mobilized all our means. The State is working together with the authorities, with all its means», he stressed before assuring that the search and rescue work will not end «until there is no one left under the rubble».
The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), under the Turkish Ministry of Interior, said that «after the first earthquake 648 others have been recorded, the highest magnitude being a 7.6 with epicenter in Elbistan», before confirming that more than 98,100 agents, workers of non-governmental organizations, search and rescue teams and volunteers are deployed in the affected areas. Turkey has also set up an air bridge for the transfer of personnel and materials from Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
In this context, 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 airlift.
The Turkish leader on Tuesday declared a three-month state of emergency in the ten provinces affected by the earthquakes. «We are facing one of the biggest disasters not only in the history of the Republic, but also of the region and the world,» he said.
SITUATION IN SYRIA For its part, the earthquake has left 1,262 dead and 2,285 wounded 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 1,730 dead and 2,850 wounded in rebel-held areas in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo (northwest), the Syrian Civil Defense, known as ‘white helmets’, have said through their Twitter account, where they insisted that «the balance is expected to increase significantly, as hundreds of families remain trapped under the rubble more than 50 hours after the earthquake.» Finally, they have pointed out that more than 360 buildings have been completely destroyed, while more than a thousand are «severely destroyed».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
