MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. The death toll from devastating earthquakes in Turkey has exceeded 45,000, Hürriyet newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing the Turkish Emergency Management Department.
"According to the latest information, a total of 45,089 people have died in the provinces of Kahramanmaras, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Adiyaman, Osmaniye, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, and Elazig," the Turkish emergency department said in a statement.
Two powerful 7.7-magnitude and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes rocked Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province, located in the country’s southeast, on February 6. The tremors, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, were felt in ten provinces as well as in neighboring countries, including Syria. On Monday, magnitude 6.4 and 5.8 earthquakes rocked southeastern Turkey with an interval of 17 minutes. According to the Haberturk television channel, damage was reported in the city of Defne in the Hatay province. Tremors were felt in Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Lebanon, and Syria.