According to the most recent data from Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), there have been 7,108 total fatalities and 40,910 injuries, according to Anadolu News Agency.
Ankara/Damascus: 9,638 people have died as a result of the terrible 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria earlier this week; rescue attempts have grown “harder” as a result of the frigid weather in the two countries, according to authorities.
According to the most recent data from Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), there have been 7,108 total fatalities and 40,910 injuries, according to Anadolu News Agency.
The AFAD said that more than 96,670 search and rescue teams are actively engaged in field operations.
5,309 employees from other countries were sent to the disaster region as a result of talks with the Turkish Foreign Ministry, it was noted.
Along with the rescue crews, food, tents, blankets, and teams providing psychological assistance were also dispatched to the impacted communities.
According to AFAD, 5,434 vehicles, including excavators, tractors, and dozers, were dispatched to the disaster region, and a total of 70,818 family tents were set up to house survivors.
Later on Wednesday, according to his office, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will go to Kahramanmaras and Hatay, two of the worst-affected areas.
He will also travel to Pazarcik, the earthquake’s epicenter, on Monday.
In both rebel-held and government-controlled parts of Syria, there have been at least 2,530 fatalities and close to 4,000 injuries.
The number of fatalities is expected to rise higher, according to aid organizations and rescuers, as many people are still buried beneath the wreckage.
As a cold and rainy weather system moves over the earthquake-affected region in the two nations, temperatures are dropping below freezing, making it difficult for rescue workers to reach all the disaster regions.
Although the temperatures are already extremely low, Wednesday’s forecast is for many more degrees below zero.
According to CNN, the area will likely continue to see sporadic showers and snow, which will increase the danger of hypothermia for people buried beneath the rubble who have already gone days without food or drink.
The World Health Organization has furthermore issued a warning that the combined death toll in the two nations may wind up going beyond 20,000.
Thousands of Syrian refugees who have left their country’s civil war reside in the earthquake-stricken area of Turkey.
At 4.17 a.m. on Monday, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake devastated the southern Turkish province of Kahramanmaras. A 6.4-magnitude earthquake slammed Gaziantep province shortly after.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake’s epicenter was 24.1 kilometers under the surface, 23 kilometers east of Nurdagi near Gaziantep.
A third 7.5-magnitude earthquake, which was “not an aftershock,” struck Kahramanmaras at roughly 1.30 p.m.
The most deaths occurred in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo and Turkey’s southern province of Hatay, however Lebanon, Israel, and Cyprus also felt the shaking.
On Tuesday, the ten provinces of Turkey were placed under a three-month state of emergency by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Seven days of national mourning are being observed in Turkey.
