Death toll rises to 49,589 in quakes, 18 in floods: Oktay

ANKARA

The death toll in the Feb. 6 earthquakes that rattled southern provinces has risen to 49,589, while 18 people lost their lives in the flood disaster, as search efforts for three missing people continue, Vice President Fuat Oktay has announced.

Providing recent information regarding the earthquake and flood disaster that hit southern provinces, Oktay said 49,589 people lost their lives in the quakes, with 6,807 of them being foreign nationals, at a press conference held in the headquarters of the country’s Emergency and Disaster Management Presidency (AFAD) in the capital Ankara.

The floods caused by torrential rains in the southern provinces claimed the lives of 16 people died in Şanlıurfa and two in Adıyaman.

“We jointly carry out the necessary actions to determine the damage caused by the earthquake and flood disaster,” he said.

As a result of the deadly earthquakes, thousands of people have been left homeless, and numerous quake survivors have migrated to other provinces.

Around 1.9 million earthquake survivors live in 354 tent cities established so far, Oktay said.

Some 245 container cities and more than 108,000 containers have been set up since the devastating quakes ripped through the country’s south.

As of March 18, 345,097 citizens from the earthquake region have applied for a change of residence in order to vote in the May 14 elections, Oktay said, adding that 2.3 million citizens were provided with temporary housing services.

A total of 31 billion Turkish Liras ($1.6 billion) was sent to the earthquake-affected provinces, while more than 22 billion liras ($1.2 billion) of this amount were allocated by AFAD, Oktay added.