Business Standard

Death toll from last month's quake nears 48,000 in Turkiye, 6,000 in Syria

The head of Turkiye's disaster and emergency management agency has raised the country's death toll from a magnitude 7.8 earthquake last month to 47,975

Turkey earthquake

Rescue team members carry a body of a person found among the rubble of a destroyed building in Antakya, southern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. (Photo: AP/PTI)

AP Istanbul

The head of Turkiye's disaster and emergency management agency has raised the country's death toll from a magnitude 7.8 earthquake last month to 47,975.

Yunus Sezer said during a news conference on Saturday that the people who died included 6,278 foreigners, with Syrian nationals accounting for the largest share.

The Feb. 6 quake affected 11 Turkish provinces and parts of neighbouring Syria. The United Nations has estimated Syria's death toll at 6,000.

The quake was followed by a magnitude 7.5 temblor hours later, as well as thousands of aftershocks.

At least 230,000 buildings were destroyed or badly damaged in Turkiye. Experts have pointed at lax building code enforcement as a major reason why the earthquake was so deadly.

 

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Mar 11 2023 | 11:12 PM IST

Explore News