Following devastating earthquakes that claimed more than 5,000 lives and toppled structures across southeast Turkey and northern Syria, Turkish President Recep Erdogan has proclaimed seven days of national mourning, according to a Tuesday morning broadcast by Aljazeera.
The media outlet reported that authorities fear the death toll from Monday’s early-morning magnitude 7.8 earthquake, which was followed by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake and several aftershocks, will keep rising as rescuers searched among piles of metal and concrete spread across a region already struggling with Syria’s 12-year civil war and a refugee crisis for survivors.
Rescuers continued their search through the chilly night and into Tuesday morning in an effort to find additional survivors among the rubble as those who were trapped screamed for assistance from beneath the mounds of debris.
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The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey has now reached 3,419, according to Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay.
Earlier on Tuesday, Orhan Tatar, a representative of Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, reported that 20,426 additional people had been hurt. More than 5,700 buildings, according to Tatar, had also been destroyed.
Approximately 3,500 people have been injured and at least 1,602 people have died in Syria, according to the Ministry of Health and the White Helmets rescue group.
According to The PUNCH, the US Geological Survey determined that the original earthquake had a depth of 18 kilometers and a magnitude of 7.8. (11 miles). A 7.6 magnitude temblor also occurred hours afterwards. According to video of the incident, the second shock caused a multi-story apartment building in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa to tumble onto the street in a cloud of dust as onlookers shouted.
Across 10 provinces, more than 7,800 individuals have been saved, according to Orhan Tatar, a representative of Turkey’s emergency management organization. Rescue personnel reported that overburdened hospital facilities immediately became full of injured patients.
