Death toll exceeds 45,000 in Turkey’s major earthquake disaster

The death toll has surpassed 45,000 after the devastating earthquakes that rattled Turkey in February, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) has said, informing that the tremor-hit region has faced over 11,000 aftershocks since the disaster.

Announcing the latest death toll and updating about the post-earthquake response and assistance to quake survivors in a written statement late on Feb. 28, AFAD said that the earthquakes claimed the lives of some 45,089 people.

Eleven provinces in the country’s Southeastern Anatolian region were strongly hit by 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes, respectively. Hatay and Kahramanmaraş were two cities most severely hit by the earthquakes. Adana, Gaziantep, Adıyaman, Osmaniye, Malatya, Kilis, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır and Elazığ were other cities hit by the disaster.

The number of people evacuated from the region is slightly less than 2 million, AFAD stated. Post-earthquake works are being carried out by 6,368 personnel from AFAD and search and rescue teams from different military and civilian units. This personnel use more than 18,000 vehicles, including trucks, excavators, earth movers, sewage trucks, etc.