Turkey and Syria earthquake: what we know so far on day three
More than 11,000 confirmed dead with more than 8,000 rescued; Erdoan visits quake zone
The combined death toll from Monday's earthquake which struck Syria and Turkey has now reached 11,416, as rescue efforts continued across the region, despite being hampered by cold weather conditions.
Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoan announced that the death toll from Monday's quake had reached 8,754 in Turkey. Visiting Kahramanmara, which was near the epicentre of the quake, he said On the first day we experienced some issues, but then on the second day and today the situation is under control". Erdoan promised the government aims to build housing within one year for those left without a home in the 10 provinces affected.
The death toll in Syria has risen to 2,662, according to reports from AFP. Syria's government has received help from a host of Arab countries including Egypt and Iraq, as well as from its key ally Russia, which has sent rescue teams and deployed forces already in Syria to join relief work, including in Aleppo.
Syria has activated the EU civil protection mechanism, two days after the earthquake, to request further assistance from the 27-country bloc and the eight other nation states that are part of the programme. The European Union has has already mobilised search and rescue teams to help Turkey, while the bloc's Copernicus satellite system has been activated to provide emergency mapping services. At least 19 member countries have offered assistance.
Cold weather continues to be expected in the region with minimum and maximum temperatures for Kahramanmara today of -6C and 1C (21-34F), and for Gaziantep between -5C and 1C (23-34F). Diyarbakr is expected to have continued snowfall, with temperatures climbing to 2C (35F) at most.
A container blaze at Turkey's southern port of Iskenderun has been brought under control, Turkey's maritime authority said on Wednesday, following combined extinguishing efforts from land, sea and air. The blaze started when containers were toppled during the quake.
A first 7.8-magnitude quake struck at 4.17 am (1.17 GMT) on Monday near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, home to about 2 million people. It was followed by a 7.5-magnitude tremor and several aftershocks.
Continue reading...