During his visit to the state of Hatay, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll from the earthquake exceeded 9,750, in addition to 53,000 wounded and the collapse of 6,500 homes, stressing that his government would not leave anyone affected by the earthquake alone.
Erdogan had made an inspection visit to the city of Kahramanmaraş, the epicenter of the earthquake, and said that the state was doing its utmost to mitigate the effects of the earthquake, and that the search and rescue teams would not leave anyone under the rubble, adding, “With the people and the state coming together, we will remove all the rubble of destruction and will not leave any citizen alone.”
The Turkish president confirmed that the state had coordinated with tourist hotels in several cities to shelter those affected by the earthquake, and promised to distribute gas pipes to citizens inside their tents. Permanent homes will also be built for those affected within a year.
At the same time, the Turkish president spoke about the situation on the ground and said, “We have difficult tasks ahead of us and we are facing a major disaster that extends over a large area amid difficult weather conditions,” noting that 60,000 personnel are participating in search and rescue operations, including volunteers and teams from outside the country.
On the other hand, Erdogan said, “The current time is the time for unity, solidarity, and union, and I cannot tolerate those who are running negative campaigns in pursuit of narrow political interests at this time.”
An earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria at dawn on Monday, with a magnitude of 7.7, followed hours later by another with a magnitude of 7.6 and hundreds of violent aftershocks, which left huge losses of lives and property in both countries.
And yesterday, Tuesday, Erdogan declared a state of emergency for a period of 3 months in 10 Turkish states affected by the earthquake in Kahramanmaraş. The ten states are Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Şanlıurfa.
