The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) under Turkey’s Interior Ministry on Wednesday pointed to an «unusual situation» during search and rescue efforts following last week’s earthquakes in the south of the country near the Syrian border, due to the fact that nearly 3,900 aftershocks have been recorded since then.
«There was a very intense aftershock. We are facing an unusual situation. So far 3,858 aftershocks have been recorded,» said AFAD Director General for Risk Reduction Orhan Tatar, who also confirmed that the ground displacements due to the earthquake are at some points more than seven meters, Turkish state news agency Anatolia reported.
Likewise, the Turkish Ministry of Urban Planning has indicated in a statement on its website that more than 50,500 buildings have collapsed or suffered serious material damage as a result of the earthquakes, which have left about 40,000 dead in Turkey and Syria, according to official balances.
The ministry has specified that it has carried out inspections on more than 387,000 buildings after the earthquakes and has pointed out that 50,576 collapsed or need «urgent demolition» because of the serious structural damage suffered. Along these lines, it specified that 11,114 buildings suffered «moderate» damage, while 99,300 suffered «slight» damage.
The Minister of Urban Planning, Murat Kurum, stressed that «efforts to analyze the damage are continuing», before describing the earthquakes as «the disaster of the century». Finally, he stressed that the authorities «will quickly demolish what needs to be demolished in order to build safer houses».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
