Turkey Earthquake: death toll above 5000, President declares 3 month state emergency

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a three-month state of Turkey emergency in 10 of the country’s provinces Tuesday. Turkey Earthquake: death toll above 5000, President declares 3 month state emergency.

Turkey, and neighboring Syria, is reeling from two consecutive earthquakes the region’s strongest in nearly a century that have devastated huge swathes of territory, taking lives and buildings with it. At the time of writing, the death toll from the quakes is above 5,100, with many still missing and critically injured.

And shortly after the seismic disaster left tens of thousands of people homeless, a brutal winter storm set in, threatening yet more lives. On Tuesday, Turkey’s government announced the start of seven days of mourning. Rescuers in Turkey and Syria braved freezing darkness, aftershocks and collapsing buildings Tuesday, as they dug for survivors buried by a string of earthquakes that killed at least 5,000 people.

Disaster agencies said several thousand buildings were flattened in cities across a vast border region pouring misery on an area already plagued by war, insurgency, refugee crises and a recent cholera outbreak.

Also Read: WhatsApp introduced new feature for status update: Details

Also Read: PSL 2023: Bomb blast during PSL match: fans throw stones into stadium

Through the night, survivors used their bare hands to pick over the twisted ruins of multi-storey apartment blocks trying to save family, friends and anyone else sleeping inside when the first massive 7.8-magnitude quake struck early Monday.