Death toll from Turkey-Syria earthquake surpasses 20,500

The death toll from the earthquakes that jolted Turkey and Syria has risen to 20,783, stated authorities. The total number of injured people in Syria and Turkey has reached 75,592.
The death toll in Turkey has risen to at least 17,406. A total of 70,347 people have been injured due to the earthquake, CNN cited Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu. The total number of deaths in Syria rose to at least 3,377, including 2,030 in rebel-held areas and 1,347 in government-controlled regions of Syria.

A three-month state of emergency came into effect in Turkey on Thursday to speed up rescue and aid efforts in Turkey’s earthquake-hit provinces. On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the three-month state of emergency to speed up search and rescue efforts in the quake-hit provinces, as per the news report.

Earthquakes of magnitudes 7.7 and 7.6, centred in the province of Kahramanmaras, were felt by 13 million people across 10 provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa, as per the news report. Turkey’s neighbouring countries, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the tremors.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday said that 75 nations and 16 international organizations have pledged aid to Turkey after the earthquakes jolted the nation. He said that 6,479 rescue personnel from 56 countries are in the field. He stated that teams from 19 nations will be in the United States within 24 hours.
 India is also providing assistance to Turkey in the rescue operation called OperationDost. The Indian Army has deployed disaster relief teams and set up a field hospital to help victims of the recent earthquakes. India’s Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADGPI) on Thursday tweeted an image of a female Indian Army officer hugging a Turkish woman in the earthquake-affected areas of Turkey.