Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed this afternoon that the death toll has now reached 16,546 and in the government held areas of Syria 1,347 have died and some 1,900 have perished in the rebel controlled areas of north Syria.
In total at least 19,795 have died since Monday’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake and almost 650 aftershocks have been felt across Turkey.
On Monday Syria and Turkey were both rocked by a 7.8 Magnitude then a separate 7.6 earthquake on Monday and the constant aftershocks has made the rescue efforts more difficult.
The British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the situation in “considerably harder” and that the UK have been in “close cooperation” with Turkey.
Read more related news:
Turkish government attempt to place restrictions on Twitter to fight against ‘disinformation’ as people are angry with the response
Cleverly said, “Our officials have been in close cooperation with them (Turkey) and the United Nations.
“We deployed an urban search and rescue team with modern world-class equipment to support the coalition that was already deployed.
“We will continue working with the Turkish authorities to find out what more they need and we will continue coordinating through the United Nations and the White Helmets civil force in Syria.
“Of course, the situation in Syria for obvious reasons is considerably harder and more complicated, but nevertheless there are lives that need to be saved and we will endeavour to work with the Turkish government and the Syrian opposition and the United Nations to try and help all the people that need our support.”
