ANKARA/DAMASKS: The death toll from Monday’s devastating earthquake in Turkey rose to 5,894 and in Syria to 1,932 on Tuesday, as calls for lifting US sanctions on Syria intensified. According to Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca and the media office at the Aleppo governorate headquarters, the number of injured in Turkey and Syria has risen to 31,777 and 1,449, respectively. The BBC reported that the death toll in both countries was expected to rise further as bad weather hampered rescue operations.
A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey’s southern province of Kahmanmaras at 4:17 a.m. local time on Monday, followed minutes later by a 6.4-magnitude quake in the country’s southern province of Gaziantep and a 7.6-magnitude quake at 1 a.m. local time. 24:00 local time in Kahramanmaras.
Turkey’s southern province of Hatay and the northern Syrian city of Aleppo suffered the most casualties, the BBC reported, while tremors were also felt in Lebanon, Israel and Cyprus.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency on Tuesday in 10 earthquake-hit provinces of the country.
He told a press conference that the decision has been taken to ensure that search and rescue activities and subsequent studies can be completed quickly.