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The earthquake that struck the easternmost part of Turkey caused only in the Country almost 16,000 deaths. The total is 20,000 deaths in all the Countrues hit by the powerful earthquake. At least 62,914 people were injured, as reported by Turkey's premier Erdogan.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of the country, said: "No one will be left homeless. We have faced other terrible catastrophes, I am thinking of the earthquakes in Van, Bingol, Izmir, Malatya and Elazig. But I am also thinking of the floods of Kastamonu and the fires that hit Mugla and Antalya.
As we have rebuilt in those situations, we will also rebuild now, in all 10 affected provinces, no one doubts. Our citizens will return to live in a house quickly. None and I mean none of our citizens will be left without shelter and without a dwelling." Regina De Domicis in charge of Turkey for Unicef, explains the drama of the orphans, as reported by Sky TG 24: "The number of children who are left without a family is increasing dramatically.
We started the first day with 500 children and now we are among 1,000 and 5,000 because these figures increase every day. When parents are taken to hospital, it often happens that they do not survive and this is happening in all provinces." A deformation, a rift that extends for 300 kilometers along the East Anatolian fault, was caused by the earthquake that occurred on February 6th.
"The two plates, the Arabic one and the Anatolian one, moved by three meters, but the energy released by the fault caused a very strong deformation along 300 kilometers," said seismologist Aybige Akinci. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told: "This is the time for unity, not for politicization or division, it's a time for massive support.
Humanitarian Affairs chief Martin Griffiths will travel to the earthquake affected areas this end week. He is already in Turkey and will visit Gaziantep, Aleppo and Damascus to assess needs and see how we can best scale up support.
To deliver assistance we need two things: access and resources. Now is the time to explore all possible avenues to bring aid and personnel to all affected areas. We must put people first. We have released $25 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund to kick-start the response."