Earthquakes, Erdogan: “The Disaster of the Century”. Twenty thousand dead between Syria and Turkey

There are more than 20,000 victims of the devastating earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey, 17,134 confirmed by the authorities in Ankara, the remaining 3,317 in Syrian territory, from where information arrives in a more fragmented way. “It’s the disaster of the century”, were the words with which he described the tragedy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who continues his journey in the ten provinces hit by the earthquake. Territories where the state of emergency is in effect from today and for three months. A measure that – explains the Turkish president – is also being taken to prevent “usurers” and “seditious groups” from trying to take advantage of the consequences of the earthquake. Erdogan reiterates that all concerned citizens will “quickly” have their homes, no one will be “homeless or without accommodation”, but tensions are rising over delays in relief efforts.

The Ankara leader admits that in the first hours after “such a vast disaster” there were deficiencies in the rescue machine, “but we are trying to eliminate them quickly”. Added to the disaster caused by the loss of human lives is the economic one: according to the rating agency Fitch, it could reach 4 billion dollars or more.

Currently in Turkey, together with the local Civil Protection, around 6,500 first responders from 56 countries around the world and members of 16 international organizations are working in the areas affected by the earthquake. “Teams from another 19 countries will arrive in the next few hours,” announced Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. Under the rubble remains the hope of still finding someone a life. A 2-year-old boy was rescued in Hatay, extracted alive 79 hours after the earthquake. Among the missing, confirms the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, there are seven Italian citizens. The Venetian businessman Angelo Zan is a family of Syrian origin with Italian citizenship, three adults and three minors, “of whom there is no more news”.

The situation is even more complex in Syria, in a territory divided between the part controlled by the forces of President Basar al-Assad and those in the hands of the rebels. In the latter, UN aid convoys arrive in fits and starts, as they can only pass through the Bab al-Hawa pass, the only one through which the UN is generally allowed access to northwest Syria. The country also fears a new disaster due to the flooding of the village of Tlool in the Salqin region, an area controlled by the rebels, due to the destruction of part of the Afrin dam.