In 35,418 The death toll from last week’s deadly earthquakes in southern Turkey has risen, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday from the AFAD (disaster response agency) headquarters where he was found. It is noted that in Syria the victims have reached 5,800.

Turkish President Erdogan has vowed to rebuild the earthquake-hit southern region as part of a one-year plan. Turkey immediately begins construction 30,000 houses early next month, President Erdogan said.

13,208 people are still receiving hospital treatment after last week’s earthquakes, the Turkish president said. More than 175,000 tents and 5,400 containers have been set up in the earthquake-hit zones.

Experts around the world describe the two earthquakes in Turkey as “extraordinary natural phenomenon”, President Erdogan said. Last week’s earthquakes, the worst in modern Turkey’s history, were “as powerful as atomic bombs”, said Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

As he pointed out, approx 250,000 executives of the state apparatus are conducting search and rescue efforts in the earthquake zone.

The ongoing efforts to rescue survivors from the ruins are a consolation in the dark picture after the earthquakes, he noted.

“Turkey will continue search and rescue efforts until it is recovered and the last survivor from under the collapsed buildings” Tayyip Erdogan pledged. Nine people were rescued from the rubble today.

Erdogan also noted that the collapsed buildings remind the government of the need to adhere to strict building regulations.