New Delhi: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday (February 14, 2023) that 35,418 people have died in Turkey as a result of last week’s earthquake, making it the country’s deadliest disaster in a century. Deaths in Turkey are confirmed by the massive Erzincan earthquake in 1939, which killed approximately 33,000 people. Erdogan pointed out that 1,05,505 were injured as a result of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred on February 6. The disaster, whose combined death toll in Turkey and neighboring Syria was more than 41,000, has devastated cities in both countries and left many tens of thousands homeless in near-freezing winter temperatures. .
Speaking in Ankara after a five-hour cabinet meeting held at the headquarters of disaster agency AFAD, Erdogan said 47,000 buildings, containing 211,000 residences, had been destroyed or damaged so badly that demolition was required. Was.
“We are facing one of the biggest natural disasters not only in our country but also in the history of humanity,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in Ankara.
Erdogan acknowledged problems in the initial response to the powerful quake but said the situation was now under control.
“We will continue our work until we get our last citizen out of the destroyed buildings,” Erdogan said of the ongoing rescue efforts.
Turkey’s president, who has referred to the quake as the “disaster of the century”, said more than 13,000 people were still being treated in hospital.
The earthquake affected 10 provinces of Turkey where about 13.5 million people live.