DEATH TOLL SURPASSES 1999 ISTANBUL EARTHQUAKE

Fri 10 February 2023:

The death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquakes, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called “the disaster of the century”, has passed 21,500.

At least 18,342 people have been killed in Turkey, according to Vice President Fuat Oktay, while at least 3,377 are known to have died in Syria.

By comparison, 18,400 died in the 2011 earthquake off Fukushima, Japan, which triggered a tsunami and an estimated 18,000 people died in a quake that hit Izmit, Turkey, in 1999.

The highest estimates put the 1999 death toll from the magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Istanbul at about 18,000.

On Friday, the death toll from the most recent quakes on Monday reached 18,342 in Turkey. At least 3,377 people died in Syria.

Turkey’s geological location makes it prone to major earthquakes. In 1939, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in northeastern Turkey was estimated to have killed more than 32,000 people.

Rescue workers are digging into the rubble for a fifth consecutive day to find more survivors of the devastating earthquakes that have killed tens of thousands of people and swept away entire cities in Turkey and Syria this week.

Operations continued on Friday, but hopes of finding people alive are fading away.

The winter weather and damage to roads and airports have hampered the rescue response. Some in Turkey have complained that the government was slow to respond – a perception that could hurt Erdogan at a time when he faces a tough battle for re-election in May.

The president has been visiting affected cities over the last two days.

Turkey’s disaster management agency said more than 110,000 rescue personnel would be taking part in the effort with the assistance of more than 5,500 vehicles, including tractors, cranes, bulldozers and excavators. The foreign ministry said 95 countries have offered help.

Even though experts say trapped people could survive for a week or more, the chances of finding survivors in the freezing temperatures are dimming, with emergency crews now starting to shift the focus to demolishing dangerously unstable structures.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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