Agencies – Ankara:
The Turkish government announced the allocation of over $5 billion for relief efforts for those affected by the February 6 earthquake.
“We provided 6 million meals to people affected by the earthquake, and state institutions and foreign aid distributed millions of blankets,” Turkey’s Vice President Fuad Oktay said at a press briefing on Tuesday. “Around 12,000 heavy machinery is working.” In the affected areas, and communication will be free for a whole month. in the affected areas.
Excavators began removing the debris of destroyed buildings near the city of Antakya, in the south of the country, and in other areas, and amid a follow-up by citizens, activists to remove traces of the collapsed buildings spread in a sustained movement. Went. Those who were standing at a distance watching the remains of the buildings turned into rubble being removed in seconds.
And the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority announced that the death toll from the devastating earthquake in Turkey has risen to 31,974. Authorities reported the evacuation of 195,962 affected people from the earthquake-hit area in southern Turkey.
Okte said search and rescue teams were working at full capacity in the ten affected states, urging citizens to stay away from buildings with significant damage. He said that 34,717 search and rescue personnel are continuing their work in the earthquake-affected areas. He said that 24 ships, 70 aircraft, 112 helicopters and drones are participating in the ongoing rescue operation, in addition to 12,322 heavy machinery, and revealed the start of construction of an assembly of around 5,000 housing containers (small prefabricated houses). as well as the construction of camps in the affected areas… For its part, the World Health Organization recognized that the earthquake, which killed more than 35,000 people in Turkey and Syria, is “the biggest natural disaster in a century”, which That is located in a country that considers its European territory. French Press Agency. “We are witness to the biggest natural disaster in a century in the region of the European branch of the World Health Organization, and we are still assessing its size,” Hans Kluge, director of the European branch of the organization, said during a press conference. As for Syria, it falls in the neighboring Eastern Mediterranean.