As of Feb. 25, the death toll resulting from the Feb. 6 earthquake in Turkey and Syria has surpassed 50,000.
44,218 Turkish citizens have died as a result of the earthquake, according to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD). As of Feb. 25, Syria’s most recently announced death toll was 5,914, as reported by Reuters.
Over 9,000 aftershocks originating from the earthquake have been recorded by AFAD. At least 38 of these aftershocks registered magnitudes greater than 5.0, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Nearly 240,000 emergency response workers continue relief efforts in affected areas, many of whom are volunteers. In the aftermath of the quakes, Turkish citizens and politicians have criticized the Turkish government for not having enough teams for relief efforts and for failing to distribute supplies to survivors.
“I have eight children. We are living in a tent,” Melek, 67, told Reuters. “There is water on top of the tent, and the ground is damp. We are asking for more tents and they don’t give them to us.”
“Due to the weather and road conditions, we could not carry out the work we wanted in Adıyaman for the first few days, I ask your pardon for this,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a news conference. “We are aware of everything, no one should doubt that we will do what is necessary.”
On Feb. 24, the Turkish government announced plans to rebuild destroyed homes within a year. However, this plan has been met with skepticism, with many experts believing hasty reconstruction efforts could worsen conditions in affected areas.
“Every project that will be implemented without making new geological investigations, updating the ground surveys, and preparing the city plans in accordance with the earthquake after the earthquake means carrying the current earthquake risk to the future and putting people’s lives at risk,” Emin Koramaz, Turkey’s Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects, wrote in the independent newspaper BirGün.