ANKARA/DAMASCUS: The death toll as a result of February 6 earthquakes in Turkey and Syria has surpassed 28,000, with UN relief chief Martin Griffiths predicting that the overall toll will “double or more” from its current level (of around 28K).
Officials and medics said 24,617 people were confirmed killed in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria. The confirmed total now stands at 28,191.
Martin Griffiths arrived on Saturday in Turkey’s southern city of Kahramanmaras, the epicenter of the first 7.8-magnitude tremor that upturned millions of lives in the pre-dawn hours of Monday.
He said of the death toll in an interview with Sky News on Saturday: “I think it is difficult to estimate precisely as we need to get under the rubble but I’m sure it will double or more.”
Turkey’s disaster agency AFAD said more than 32,000 people from Turkish organizations are working on search-and-rescue efforts. There are also 8,294 international rescuers. The agency said since the 7.7-magnitude quake that hit Kahramanmaraş on Feb 6, a total of 2,103 earthquakes/aftershocks have taken place, and in line with accommodation needs, 175,960 tents and 1,507,494 blankets have been sent to the earthquake-affected areas.
In Syria, the United Nations said up to 5.3 million people may be homeless after the earthquakes, while nearly 900,000 people are in urgent need of hot food in Turkey and Syria.
Almost 26 million people have been affected by the earthquake, the World Health Organization (WHO) said as it launched a flash appeal on Saturday for $42.8 million to cope with immediate health needs.
