Also, about 55,000 people were injured in the two countries affected by the disaster, most with fractures and severe lacerations.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: “I can say that there are 8,574 dead and 49,133 injured in Kahramanmaraş, the epicenter of the earthquake that hit 10 provinces for now.”
Amid growing criticism of the government for the lack of aid in some affected areas, Erdogan has traveled to Kahramanmaraş and will also visit one of the hardest-hit provinces, Hatay.
“I believe that my citizens, who have always been patient, will continue to be patient. The state here is coordinated by AFAD (Turkish Emergency Organization). .
Read more: More than 8,300 people died in earthquakes, about 6,200 of them in Turkey
“There were some problems on the first day, but on the second day and today things are under control. We will start clearing the rubble and our goal is to rebuild houses in Kahramanmaraş and other affected districts within a year,” he said.
Despite the fact that some 60,000 rescuers have been deployed to Turkey’s hardest-hit area, the destruction is so great and the area is so vast that there are still places where aid has not arrived.
Many citizens describe a dramatic situation in the middle of winter due to a lack of basic services and goods, interruptions in water, electricity and heating, lack of fuel and difficulties in the delivery of medicines.
More: More than 7,200 people died in the quakes, with more than 5,400 in Turkey.
“What about the taxes we pay? Where is the Red Crescent? “We have not heard anything about frostbite,” said a survivor from Kahramanmaraş Halk TV.
Ambulance doctor Yılmaz Kurt, who went to Maraş with his car loaded with first aid supplies, told EFE over the phone that “gasoline and diesel are at the top of the list of needs for cars and vehicles”.
“There is no fuel at any gas station in the region. Many vehicles stop on the highway when they run out of fuel. Even working machines cannot work if they run out of gas,” he said.
Rescue workers continue to rescue people after spending more than 50 hours under the rubble, but the missions are becoming increasingly desperate as freezing temperatures and aftershocks complicate work.
While the number of dead in Syria’s earthquakes so far has reached 2,662 and injured 4,985, hundreds of people remained trapped under the rubble for more than 50 hours after the initial quake.
The opposition-held northwestern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, on the Turkish border, concentrate most of the casualties in a country already punished by 12 years of conflict.
Source: Ultimahora
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Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
