Turkey quake Turkey earthquakes leave over 40,000 people dead
Ankara/UNI: The toll from two major earthquakes that struck southeastern Turkey on Feb 6 has risen to 40,642, the country's disaster agency said Saturday.
Search and rescue efforts will be largely completed as of Sunday evening, Yunus Sezer, head of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said at a press conference.
The emergency work was concentrated in southern Hatay province, which was hit hardest in last week's quakes, he said, adding that the disaster agency had nearly 13,000 personnel working in the area.
A total of 430,000 people were evacuated from the earthquake area, Sezer said.
On Feb 6, A 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey's southern province of Kahramanmaras at 4:17 a.m. local time (0117 GMT), followed by a 6.4 magnitude quake a few minutes later in the country's southern province of Gaziantep.
A third 7.6 magnitude earthquake stuck at 1:24 p.m. local time (1024 GMT) in the Kahramanmaras Province leaving the country devastated.
