Death Toll in Turkey-Syria Earthquake Tops 28,000
Survivors continued to be pulled from the rubble of the massive earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6, as the death toll topped 28,000. But these survivors are not the norm nearly a week after the major natural disaster. At least 80,000 people in Turkey have been injured in the earthquake and its aftershocks. At least 12,000 buildings in Turkey collapsed and an equal number also were damaged in the temblor.
Martin Griffiths, under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said over the weekend that the death toll in the earthquake could top 55,000.
The overall death toll in Syria stood at 3,553 on Saturday, with some 2,166 killed in Syria’s northwestern rebel-held region. The UN refugee agency estimated that as many as 5.3 million people are homeless in Syria due to the earthquake.