The Turkish authorities have estimated the death toll at around 44,400 from the earthquakes registered on February 6, which had their epicenter in the province of Kahramanmaras (south), near the border with Syria, where around 4,000 more people have died. according to official balances.
The head of the Turkish Agency for Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD), Yunus Sezer, has indicated that so far 44,374 deaths have been confirmed due to the earthquakes, which have also left more than thirteen million homeless in the ten affected provinces, as reported by the Turkish state news agency, Anatolia.
Likewise, it has highlighted that the search and rescue work has been completed in around 21,000 buildings collapsed due to the tremors, at the same time that it has affected that the authorities “are now totally focused on the removal of rubble”. Sezer has also stated that around 9,900 aftershocks have been registered since February 6, which has affected these works.
On the other hand, he pointed out that more than 230,000 people are participating in these recovery efforts, before adding that more than 1.5 million victims are currently residing in tents and hostels in the affected areas, while another 563,000 have been evacuated to other regions not shaken by earthquakes.
The total number of deaths from the earthquakes amounts to more than 50,000 with the balance of Syria, although the number of victims in the Arab country is much more difficult to calculate, especially in the northwest, in the hands of rebel groups.
Despite the fact that the figures increase every day, the total number of deaths in Syria exceeds 5,900 -with more than 11,000 injured-, according to official data that has not been updated since February 12, a few days after the earthquakes.
