The death toll from catastrophic earthquakes in southern Turkey and northwestern Syria surpassed 4000 on Tuesday morning. The earthquake that occurred on early Monday morning, according to Turkish authorities, had claimed 3,500 people while over 22,100 were injured. Meanwhile nearly 6,000 buildings were destroyed in the disaster the country’s disaster management officials have announced.
The death toll from catastrophic earthquakes in southern Turkey and northwestern Syria has surpassed 5,000 on Tuesday evening, authorities said. This comes as crews raced to try to find survivors in the rubble of thousands of collapsed buildings. The aftershocks, including a magnitude 5.7 temblor that hit Tuesday, made the search itself dangerous. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that he was declaring a state of emergency for three months across 10 provinces in the earthquake zone, according to Turkish media.
Hundreds of people have died after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake destroyed buildings in southern Turkey and northern Syria. Tremors were felt as far away as Lebanon, Cyprus and Egypt.