So far, 435 aftershocks of lesser intensity have been recorded in the affected areas, where more than 60,000 people are working on rescue and debris removal efforts, in an operation that includes more than one hundred deployed aircraft and helicopters. The earthquake has left a total of 5,775 buildings destroyed.
EFE, Turkey
Monday's devastating earthquakes have raised the death toll to more than 7,200, of which 5,434 were recorded in Turkey alone, where more than 31,000 were also injured.
In Turkey, where the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes were centered, the latest count raises the death toll to 5,434 and the number of injured to 31,777, according to data released from Hatay - one of the most affected areas - by Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.
In response to this catastrophe, the Turkish government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared a three-month state of emergency in the ten affected provinces.
The head of state had already assured yesterday that these earthquakes represent the biggest disaster suffered by the country since the 1939 earthquake in Erzincan, in eastern Turkey, which left more than 32,000 dead.
So far, 435 aftershocks of lesser intensity have been recorded in the affected areas, where more than 60,000 people are working on rescue and debris removal tasks, in a deployment that includes more than one hundred aircraft and helicopters.
The earthquake has also destroyed a total of 5,775 buildings. Aftershocks and low temperatures are complicating rescue efforts and reducing the chances of finding survivors as the hours pass.
In Syria, which has been embroiled in a civil war for twelve years, information about casualties comes, on the one hand, from the government of Bashar al-Assad and, on the other, from the last enclave in the country controlled by the opposition.
The total count indicates that 1,832 people have died in this country and another 3,849 have been injured.
Even before the earthquakes, Syria was suffering its worst humanitarian crisis since the outbreak of the revolts against Damascus in 2011 and the subsequent start of the war, with 90% of the population mired in poverty, shortages of basic products and millions of displaced people.
