Ankara, Feb. 19 (BNA): The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said that the total death toll in the devastating earthquake in Turkey reached 40,642. Thousands more were killed in neighboring Syria.
Later on Saturday, a 5.3-magnitude earthquake rocked southeastern Turkey in the Kahramanmaraş region, which had been damaged by initial quakes, dpa reported.
The latest quake occurred at 10:31 p.m. (1931 GMT), observer Kandili said. The US Geological Survey measured the earthquake’s magnitude at 5. It was not clear at first if anyone was injured, or the extent of any damage.
More than 5,700 aftershocks have been recorded since the original 7.7-magnitude quake struck the border region between Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6, Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate Yunus Sezer told reporters in Ankara earlier on Saturday.
About 13,000 rescue workers are making last-ditch efforts to rescue people from under the rubble in the worst-hit provinces of Hatay and Kahramanmaraş, Sezer of Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said, adding that the search and rescue mission is scheduled to be completed later on Sunday.
Rescue teams pulled three people, including a child, alive from the wreckage of a collapsed apartment building. State television station TRT reported earlier on Saturday that they had spent 296 hours since the quake under rubble.
The 12-year-old died of his injuries in hospital, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
As Turkey’s Minister of Forestry, Vahit Kiriçi, told state broadcaster TRT, the affected area covers 103,000 square kilometers in Turkey alone, with a population of 13.5 million, or about 17% of Turkey’s total population.
Meanwhile, more than 1,100 kilometers west of the epicenter, in Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, authorities have tackled the issue of preparing for future earthquakes, to prevent a tragedy of this magnitude from happening again.
The Istanbul Governor’s Office said on Saturday that a total of 93 school buildings are scheduled to be evacuated due to construction risks and will be rebuilt or reinforced.
Turkey lies on the notorious fault line in northern Anatolia. A major earthquake in 1999 that struck the Marmara region, including Istanbul, killed more than 18,000 people.
The country’s authorities have come under fire for lax enforcement of building regulations, which may have contributed to the high death toll. And Anatolia stated that 120 people, including contractors, have been arrested so far due to their responsibility for the collapsed buildings.