The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed that more than 5,200 have died in Turkey and Syria.
Erdogan said that Turkey has suffered so far 3,549 deaths which is likely to continue to rise as rescue workers are working day and night to find survivors trapped in the rubble.
Turkey’s vice president, Fuat Oktayhas, has said that more than 800 survivors have been pulled from the rubble and around 380,000 have now taken refuge in hotels across the country and government shelters.
Many others are seeking shelter in shopping malls, mosques, community centres and stadiums and others are left outside in the freezing temperatures huddled around fires and under blankets.
The Turkish President said that 13 million out of 85 million residents have been affected by the earthquakes and continuous tremors which will likely carry on for some days, and a three month state of emergency in 10 provinces has been declared.
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More than 5,000 have died in Turkey which could rise to over 20,000 as two more earthquakes strike with further powerful tremors
The road between #Gaziantep and #Adana appears to have completely collapsed #TurkeyEarthquake #TurkeyQuake #SyriaQuake pic.twitter.com/R20HL15C7o
— Æziz (@aziz0fficial1) February 7, 2023
The first earthquake hit at 04.17 local time whilst millions were sleeping and the country is now more than half in the “critical” 72-hour window which is critical to rescue efforts to find survivors.
It’s so hard to bear this sadness….#TurkeyEarthquake#Turquie #Turkey #TurkeyQuake pic.twitter.com/iEFBU4StzE
— Jayden Oosterwolde (@jaydenOost17) February 7, 2023
British Ministers have said the first three days is critical and Save the Children warned that once the 72-hours has passed “the cold will kill people.”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that “it’s now a race against time.”
He added, “Every minute, every hour that passes, the chances of finding survivors alive diminishes.”
India rushes to support #Turkiye in the aftermath of the #earthquake. First Indian C17 flight with more than 50 #NDRF Search & Rescue personnel, specially trained dog squads lands in #Adana#hataydepremi #Kahramanmarasafad #TurkeyQuake #TurkeyEarthquake #syriaearthquake pic.twitter.com/1RZu0EOX7o
— Robin Sharma (@RobinSharmape) February 7, 2023
The head of the Syrian White Helmets, Raed al-Saleh said his rescue workers and crews have for 36 strait hours been searching for survivors.
A Professor of natural and environmental hazards at King’s College London has warned that the multiple earthquakes and the hundreds of tremors could “trigger hundreds if not thousands of landslides” in the coming days.
Very Heartbreaking video of the Turkey earthquake.
Prayer for them.🙏 #TurkeyQuake pic.twitter.com/c4Y4N7NHso— Nazaket Rather (@RatherNazaket) February 7, 2023
Bruce Malamud warned that the seismic activity “will likely trigger hundreds if not thousands of landslides in the hours to days.
“The hazard relief agencies and managers will be conscious of other natural hazards and multi-hazard cascades.”
In #Hatay, Ayaz and his sister Ece Su were rescued from the rubble. Little girl “I’m scared, I can’t get out”😪#TurkeyQuake #earthquakeinturkey #PrayForTurkey #earthquakes #turkey 🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/uArpJeTrtj
— Fatma De.35 (@FatmaDe80674479) February 7, 2023
He added that large numbers of people will have to be evacuated and relocated and officials must ensure they are not moves to areas prone to flooding.
He explained that this has happened in the past particularly citing Asia which was hit with an earthquake and many people had died as a result of being relocated to a flood plain which later flooded.
