Turkey’s earthquake death toll surpasses 18.000
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) announced on Friday morning that the number of victims of the devastating earthquake that struck the country on Feb.6, increased to 18.342 dead and 74.242 injured.
This came in a statistic that includes the information available by 8:30 am this morning, after a previous statistic announced by Fuat Oktay, the Turkish Vice President, on Thursday evening, reporting 17.674 dead.
During a press conference from AFAD headquarters in the capital, Ankara, on Friday, Oktay said that the search and rescue operations has been completed in the states of Kilis and Urfa, while it has been completed to a large extent in the states of Diyarbakir, Adana and Osmaniye.
He pointed out that 121 people were rescued in the last 24 hours.
At dawn on Feb. 6, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Syria and Turkey, killing thousands and injuring much more. The earthquake also caused immense destruction of buildings, trapping thousands under the rubble.
Searches for victims and survivors under the rubble of the collapsed buildings continue but chances of finding survivors are dimming amid great difficulty, due to the freezing and rainy weather.