The balance sheet of the earthquake which struck Turkey and Syria on Monday left at least 2,700 dead, so more than 1,700 in Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday decreed a seven-day national mourning in Turkey, after the earthquakes which at this stage made a provisional death toll of 1,762.
According to this decree published by the government, the flags will be flown at half-mast until sunset on Sunday February 12.
At least 2,700 people were killed Monday in southeastern Turkey and neighboring Syria by a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake, followed a few hours later by a very strong aftershock, and international aid was mobilizing after these tremors so that the rescue operations were hampered by the cold and the night.
A balance sheet that grows heavier hour by hour
This death toll continues to grow, with a very large number of people remaining trapped under the collapsed buildings which number in the thousands. The rain and snow, which fell in some places in abundance, and the expected drop in temperatures with nightfall made Monday evening even more difficult the work of the relief workers, and the situation of the inhabitants on the street.
Under these conditions, the World Health Organization said it expected a much higher final toll. “We often see numbers eight times higher than the initial numbers,” said an emergency manager from the WHO’s European office, Catherine Smallwood.
The first tremor occurred at 4:17 am local time, in the district of Pazarcik, in the province of Kahramanmaras (south-east), about 60 km as the crow flies from the Syrian border.
Dozens of aftershocks followed, before a new earthquake of magnitude 7.5 still in southeastern Turkey, 4 km southeast of the town of Ekinozu.
