Turkey earthquake: Nearly 20,000 people have died to date (Erdogan)

On Feb 11, 2023

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed on Friday that the death toll from Monday’s earthquake in southeastern Turkey is close to 19,000, noting that efforts are continuing to bring all other victims to safety.

The death toll from the earthquake has risen to 18,991 and 75,570 injured, while more than 76,000 affected people have been evacuated to other provinces, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a tour of the affected areas in Adiyaman province.

He said the state will ensure the transfer of victims who do not want to stay in tents to houses by covering the rental costs and giving guidance to the Turkish airline to transport passengers to and from the devastated areas free of charge.

The Turkish government, he said, was preparing a comprehensive programme for the reconstruction of the affected areas, noting that more than 144,000 people were still working in search and rescue, but the widening area of destruction was making their work difficult.

The earthquake, which struck at 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT) on Monday at a depth of about 17.9 kilometres, caused several buildings to collapse in the Turkish localities of “kahramanmaraş”, “Gaziantep”, “Adana”, “Malatya”, “Diyarbakir”, “Sanliurfa” and “Osmaniye”.