Turkey: Rescue work ends in nine out of 11 earthquake affected provinces, death toll rises to 40,689

The search and rescue effort in the rubble of the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey on February 6 has begun to reach its end. Rescue work has ended in nine of the 11 earthquake-hit provinces, while the total death toll in Turkey has risen to 40,689. At present, the demolition team is engaged in the work of removing the pile of debris. Sunday’s developments after the earthquake: Death toll rises to 47 The death toll due to the earthquake in Turkey has risen to 40,689.

This information was given by Yunus Sejar, head of the country’s disaster agency AFAD. The death toll has increased by 47 compared to the figure till Saturday evening. Sezer told reporters in Ankara that search and rescue operations had ended in nine of the 11 provinces affected by the quake. He said that the operation is still going on in Kahramanmaras and Hatay, which were the epicenter of the earthquake. He said rescue operations were ongoing in the two provinces, but there were no signs of anyone being pulled alive from the rubble.

Earlier on Saturday, three members of a family – mother, father and 12-year-old son – were pulled out from the debris of a building that collapsed in Hatay, but the son later died. The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria has risen to 44,337. More than 6,000 aftershocks after the main quake Turkey’s disaster management said about 6,040 aftershocks affected 11 provinces after the initial quake.

The initial quake had a magnitude of 7.8, but it was followed nine hours later by a magnitude 7.5 tremor. AFAD general manager Orhan Tatar said there were 40 aftershocks of magnitude five to six, while there was one aftershock of magnitude 6.6. He warned of secondary disasters such as landslides and rock slides. In the investigation, more than one lakh buildings have been found badly damaged.

An investigation by Turkey’s Ministry of Environment and Urbanization found some 1,05,794 buildings were destroyed or damaged so badly that they needed to be demolished. The ministry gave this information on Sunday. Of these, 20,662 buildings collapsed, the ministry statement said. The destroyed buildings contained over 3,84,500 units, mostly residential apartments.

Disclaimer:IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.

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