Latest Turkey and Syria earthquake news
12 Feb. () –
The latest balance of the Turkish agency for disaster management, AFAD, raises to 29,605 the deaths as a result of the earthquake last Monday, which now adds up to almost 35,000 after adding the more than 5,200 deaths in Syria.
In Syria there are specifically 5,273 deaths, according to the latest balance published by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, bringing the total number of deaths to 34,878.
Meanwhile, rescue efforts continue. The Turkish vice president, Fuat Oktay, has explained that there are 32,071 “unsung heroes” who continue to work on the rescue. “They have trained dogs that are very important in the search. Technology is also important. However, sad news continues to arrive. It is a catastrophe, the catastrophe of the century,” he pointed out, according to the Turkish newspaper ‘Hürriyet’.
This Sunday the Minister of Education, Mahmut Özer, has announced the suspension of classes in the ten provinces most affected by the earthquake at least until March 1. The measure affects the provinces of Kahramanmaras, Hatay, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Adana, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Malatya and Kilis.
At the judicial level, the suspension of trials for a period of two months in these same ten provinces has been announced this Sunday. “The Prosecutor’s Office is working intensively for the opening and execution of judicial investigations and the arrest of responsible suspects,” said the Minister of Justice, Bekir Bozdag.
More than a hundred people have already been arrested for their involvement in the construction of defective buildings that would have aggravated the consequences of the earthquake. This Sunday, the builders Yavuz Karakus and Sevilay Karakus, responsible for many of the buildings destroyed in Adiyaman, were arrested at Istanbul Airport. They were planning a flight to Georgia.
