Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said today that the government will take action against those involved in looting and other crimes in the region hit hardest by devastating earthquakes earlier this week.
There is no end to the drama in Turkey as the death toll from the devastating earthquakes that leveled Turkey and Syria rises to 25,000 according to the AP.
Specifically, more than 25,000 people were killed by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, according to the updated data released today.
According to Turkish President Recep Erdogan, who visited the southeastern city of Sanliurfa, so far the bodies of 21,848 people have been found in Turkey, while authorities in Syria have announced 3,553 dead.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said today, visiting Diyarbakir, that the government will take action against those involved in looting and other crimes in the region worst hit by the devastating earthquakes earlier this week.
Speaking during a visit to the quake-hit zone, the Turkish president said hundreds of thousands of buildings were uninhabitable across southern Turkey and that authorities would take steps to rebuild damaged cities within weeks.
“We have declared a state of emergency. This means that from now on those involved in looting or kidnapping should know that the heavy hand of the state is on their backs,” he said.
Erdogan said yesterday that looting had been observed in some areas. However, it is not clear which kidnapping incidents he was referring to.
Security in the quake-hit zone came under the spotlight after the Austrian military suspended rescue operations there due to what its spokesman described as “increasing difficulty in the security sector”.
The worst disaster in the last 100 years in Turkey
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths today appealed to the global community not to forget the thousands of people who need shelter and food as rescuers search for survivors of Monday’s earthquake that struck southern Turkey and the northwest Syria.
Speaking at a press briefing in Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province as rescue workers worked, Griffiths said he had spoken to families who have been displaced and left in the cold without food after the quake.
“I am here to make sure these people are not forgotten,” he told reporters.
Griffiths praised Turkey’s response to the disaster as “extraordinary” and hailed the “courage of the rescuers who are working around the clock hoping for one more sound, one more survivor”.
“It’s the beginning and my experience is that people are always disappointed at the beginning,” he said in an apparent reference to criticism of the authorities’ response after the earthquake.
As he said, what happened in the area around the epicenter of the earthquake is “the worst event of the last 100 years in the region”.
He apparently meant the region’s worst natural disaster: Monday’s earthquake was the worst to hit Turkey since 1939.
Syria’s 11-year civil war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and left millions homeless, remains the region’s deadliest in recent history.
As Griffiths said, a three-month operation is being launched for both Turkey and Syria with the aim of helping cover the costs of operations there.
He told Reuters he hoped aid in Syria would be distributed to both government-held and opposition-held areas, but noted that at that level things were “not clear yet.”
Rescuers in opposition-held areas have criticized the United Nations and the international community for their slow response after the earthquake.
RES-EMP
Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
