2 million people evacuated from quake-hit provinces

KAHRAMANMARAŞ

The number of people who were evacuated from the 11 quake-hit provinces has exceed 2 million nearly 25 days after the earthquakes that affected nearly 13.5 million people.

The death toll has risen to 45,089 after the devastating earthquakes that rattled Türkiye in February, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) said, informing that the tremor-hit region faced over 11,000 aftershocks since the disaster.

Eleven provinces in the country’s southeastern Anatolian region were strongly hit by 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes, respectively. Hatay and Kahramanmaraş were two cities most severely hit by the earthquakes. Adana, Gaziantep, Adıyaman, Osmaniye, Malatya, Kilis, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır and Elazığ were other cities hit by the disaster.

Evacuation efforts started immediately in the 11 provinces after the quakes, the number of people who were evacuated by official institutions and who registered as a victim in the provinces they went to by their own means reached 1.9 million.

It is estimated that this figure exceeds 2 million including those who have not registered.

Quake survivors prefer to move to the neighboring provinces of Mersin, Antalya, Mardin, Niğde and Konya.

With the completion of the search and rescue efforts in most parts of the quake-hit provinces, most of the rescuers left there as hopes of saving lives from wreckage were dashed.

As of March 1, the number of search and rescue personnel on duty decreased to 6,368.

This figure was 35,249 on Feb. 14.

More than 18,000 vehicles including excavators, cranes, bulldozers, trucks, water trucks and trailers are being used during the recovery efforts, AFAD said.

Over 160,000 Turkish buildings containing 520,000 apartments collapsed or were severely damaged in the disaster.

Number of detainees reaches 218

Meanwhile, investigations are ongoing into the buildings that collapsed in the quake zone or on which changes were made against the zoning regulation.

In this context, 218 of the 869 suspects were arrested, while a judicial control decision was made for 298 suspects.

Arrest warrants were issued for 152 people, and detention orders were issued for 81 suspects.

The proceedings of the four people in custody are ongoing, while there are five people who were found to be abroad, 31 people who were found to be dead, and 81 people who were released after their statements at the prosecutor’s offices.

As part of the investigations into the thefts that took place in the region after the earthquakes, 317 suspects were identified related to 388 incidents.

Some 206 of these suspects were arrested, and judicial control was ordered against 37 people.