The death toll from Turkey's earthquakes rose to 21848, 80104 dead and injured to while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that the government will begin reconstruction as soon as possible and heal the wounds of these afflicted areas.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the death toll from earthquakes had risen to 21848 people and 80104 people were injured.
Erdogan added during his inspection of the earthquake areas in the province of Şanlıurfa that the Turkish government provided assistance worth 15 Turkish liras to each family affected by the earthquake.
"I ask you for only one year and we will revive these residential areas again one year we will bring life back to these areas."
"We will start reconstruction as soon as possible and we will bandage the wounds of these afflicted areas."
He pointed out that the Turkish government is implementing measures that would alleviate the problems of victims and facilitate their lives.
He said 460 citizens are currently staying in schools training hotels and teachers' residences belonging to the Ministry of National Education.
He confirmed that one million and 100 people are staying in temporary shelters.
He stressed that the government is taking all necessary measures not to leave the affected citizens hungry and in the open and so that they do not feel despair and loneliness.
He explained that the authorities have zero tolerance for "merchants of chaos" who incite the people by spreading fake and false news on social media in particular.
In earlier remarks during an inspection visit to Diyarbakir province Erdogan said the Kahramanmaraş earthquake was three times stronger and more destructive than the 1999 earthquake engraved in the country's memory.
He pointed out that the earthquake caused destruction on an area of 500 kilometers and was felt on an area of a thousand kilometers.
The Turkish president stressed that "the earthquake cannot be compared with previous earthquakes and 14 million citizens have been affected."
"We are preparing plans to rebuild hundreds of thousands of houses with their infrastructure and superstructure and to rebuild cities that have been severely damaged by earthquakes" he said.
Erdogan said: "All university dormitories will be allocated to those affected by the earthquake and education in universities will be remote until the summer."
Turkish authorities continue to transport those injured from quake-stricken areas to other provinces for treatment.
In this context a military cargo plane arrived at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport at dawn on Saturday from Adana province with 47 injured people on board according to the Anadolu correspondent.
A military ambulance plane also arrived at the same airport from Adana carrying five wounded.
After the planes arrived at the airport ambulance teams took the injured to the city's hospitals to provide them with health care.
At dawn on Monday an earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria with a magnitude of 7.7 followed by another hours later with a magnitude of 7.6 and hundreds of violent aftershocks leaving large losses in lives and property in both countries.
On Tuesday President Erdogan declared a state of emergency for 3 months in 10 provinces affected by the earthquake namely Adana Adi Yaman Diyarbakir Gaziantep Hatay Kahramanmaraş Kilis Malatya Osmaniye and Şanlıurfa.
Earthquakes in Syria. UN expects 5.3 million displacement and death toll to 3553
The United Nations warns that devastating earthquakes could have displaced 5.3 million people in Syria alone which has already been plagued by nearly 12 years of conflict.
The U.N. refugee agency warned Friday that devastating earthquakes could have displaced 5.3 million people in Syria which has already been plagued by nearly 12 years of conflict.
The death toll throughout Syria (areas controlled by the regime and the opposition) rose to 3553, 5276 dead and injured as a result of the earthquakes that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria at dawn on Monday.
UNHCR's Syria representative Sivanka Dana Bala told a news conference in Geneva from Damascus that "up to 5.3 million people could become displaced" by the quakes citing preliminary estimates of people needing shelter in all affected areas of the country.
"This is a huge number for a people already suffering from mass displacement" he said.
Since 2011 Syria has been embroiled in conflict that has displaced half of its nearly 22 million people inside and outside the country.
The wave of displacement in Syria is one of the largest in the world since World War II.
The destruction caused by the earthquakes centered in Turkey affected five Syrian provinces: Idlib (northwest) Aleppo (north) Hama (center) Latakia and Tartous (west).
It has so far killed more than 22300, 3300 people in Syria and Turkey including more than in Syria.
Since dawn on Monday residents and medics in several Syrian provinces have been searching for survivors under the rubble amid limited resources as the chances of finding survivors dwindled.
In Syria survivors have sought refuge in camps for displaced people near the Turkish border or in makeshift shelters set up by authorities in the affected provinces some of whom have also spread out streets courtyards and fields or even chose to spend their nights in cars.
The UNHCR representative described the situation in Syria: "It's a crisis within a crisis."