UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths on Saturday expressed fears that the final death toll from the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey could eventually exceed 50,000, speaking to Sky News.
The humanitarian official gave this estimate at a time when the latest official death toll on Saturday is around 24,500, mainly in Turkey, where more than 21,000 deaths have already been confirmed.
«It is difficult to calculate precisely because we have to continue to search through the rubble, but I am sure that the figure will double at least,» Griffiths explained during a visit to care centers in the Turkish city of Adana, where he described the degree of devastation as «terrifying», before leaving for the Syrian town of Aleppo.
«Actually, we have not yet started with the real death toll,» added the humanitarian official, who described as «terrifying» the degree of destruction he has witnessed.
«It is an absolutely cruel counterattack of nature,» Griffiths lamented, before thanking the rescue services for their perseverance despite the fact that the 72-hour «grace period» usually dedicated to search for survivors has already elapsed.
«It’s only recently that more people have been pulled out alive. It must be incredibly difficult to decide when to stop this rescue phase and move on to the next stage, which will also have its own problems,» he lamented.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
