The number of victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria has exceeded 41 thousand peopleTAZAA News

Ankara/Damascus: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his determination to continue the rescue and reconstruction work in the earthquake-affected areas, while the total number of people killed in the natural disaster exceeded 41,000. According to a foreign news agency, the death toll from the devastating earthquake in Syria and Turkey has exceeded 41,000, and the survivors are struggling with extreme cold amid a lack of services.

“We will continue our work until the last citizen is evacuated from the destroyed buildings,” said the Turkish president, speaking after a meeting of the Disaster and Emergencies Agency (FAD) cabinet. He said that the assessment of the damage to the buildings will be completed in a week, and reconstruction works will begin in the coming months.

Meanwhile, the president of Turkey said, we will restore all the houses, workplaces damaged or unusable due to the earthquake and hand them over to their rightful owners. He said that as a result of this natural disaster, more than 150,000 people were injured, 13,000 of whom are still being treated in hospitals.

Although the hope of survival of the people under the rubble has faded, the miraculous rescue of people continues and on Tuesday 10 people were pulled out alive from the rubble of the destroyed buildings. Turkey’s president acknowledged problems in the initial response to the 7.8-magnitude earthquake, but said the situation was now under control. He said that we faced one of the worst natural disasters not only in our country, but in the history of mankind.

Rajab Tayyip Erdogan said that 2,200,000 people were displaced from the severely affected areas and the buildings became uninhabitable. UN officials said the rescue phase was nearing completion and the focus would now be on shelter, food and education.

Syrian refugee Hasan Saimoa, who lives with his family in a playground in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep, said: “People are facing a lot of problems. We tried to get tents, help and some things, but we didn’t find anything.” Other Syrian refugees displaced by the earthquake, including Hasan, who came to the Turkish city of Gaziantep to escape the ongoing war in their country, built temporary tents using plastic, blankets and cardboard.

“The demand is enormous and growing every minute, with 26 million people in both countries needing help,” said Henry P. Lewg, WHO Europe director. In addition, health problems and epidemics caused by extreme cold, sanitation and drainage create concerns that put the most vulnerable at risk.

Families in affected areas of Turkey and Syria say their children are suffering psychological effects after the earthquake. Hassani Muaz says about his 9-year-old son that whenever he forgets about the earthquake, he remembers it again after hearing a loud noise, even when he is sleeping.

The first UN aid convoy has arrived in the rebel-held area of ​​northwestern Syria from Turkey through the newly opened Bab al-Salam border crossing. Raid al-Saleh, the head of the aid organization “White Hills”, which works in Syria, said that the search for the missing in western Syria is coming to an end.

The President of Turkey said that due to the earthquake, the number of people killed in Turkey has reached 35 thousand 418, while according to the UN organization and the official media of Syria, 5 thousand 814 deaths have been confirmed there. The survivors have mostly left their homes in the affected areas.