ANKARA, February 21. /TASS/: The death toll from devastating earthquakes in Turkey has climbed to 42,310, Turkey’s Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) said on Tuesday.
"According to the latest data, the death toll from the earthquakes that rocked the Kahramanmaras, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Adiyaman, Osmaniye, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, and Elazig has reached 42,310. As many as 448,000 people have been evacuated from the disaster area," it said.
According to AFAD, more than 7,000 aftershocks have been registered since the first powerful quake on February 6.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a trip over the affected provinces that around 115,000 people were injured in the quakes and 458,000 building were ruined.
Two powerful 7.7-magnitude and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes rocked Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province, located in the country’s southeast, on February 6. The tremors, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, were felt in ten provinces as well as in neighboring countries, including Syria. On Monday, magnitude 6.4 and 5.8 earthquakes rocked southeastern Turkey with an interval of 17 minutes. According to the Haberturk television channel, damage was reported in the city of Defne in the Hatay province. Tremors were felt in Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Lebanon, and Syria.
