News

Quake deaths rise to 42,310 in southern Türkiye

Published

1 year ago

February 21, 2023

At least 42,310 people have been killed by two strong earthquakes that jolted southeastern Türkiye on Feb. 6, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said Sunday.

The quakes were followed by over 6,210 aftershocks, the AFAD noted in a statement.

A total of 19,436 local and international search and rescue personnel are currently working in the field, the AFAD also reported.

Teams set up a total of 216,166 tents, which were dispatched by ministries, relevant institutions as well as other countries and international organizations, in the earthquake zone, it added.

The search and rescue efforts have been completed in the earthquake zone, except in the southern Kahramanmaraş and Hatay provinces, AFAD head Yunus Sezer told reporters.

Sezer said search and rescue efforts continued in nearly 40 buildings, while over 6,000 containers have been set up.

Noting that evacuations from the earthquake zone to other provinces continued, Sezer said: “Over 460,900 people have so far been evacuated.”

“We are currently hosting 318,970 victims who were evacuated from the quakes-hit region, in public guesthouses, hotels and other accommodation facilities,” he added.

Also, in the region, “We are continuing to host over 1 million disaster victims in public guesthouses, hotels, and other accommodation facilities,” he said. Sezer said that the cash aid of TL 10,000 ($531) has been given to nearly 800,000 citizens.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck Kahramanmaraş and 10 other provinces – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakır, Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Kilis, Osmaniye, Elaziğ and Şanlıurfa on Feb. 6 in less than 10 hours apart. Over 13 million people in the region have been affected by the devastating quakes.