According to Martin Griffiths, the UN relief chief, the death toll from the catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria will likely "double or more" from the current count of 28,000. Upon arrival in Kahramanmaras, the epicenter of the first earthquake, in southern Turkey, Martin Griffiths stated to Sky News that "I think it is difficult to estimate precisely as we need to get under the rubble but I'm sure it will double or more."
"We haven't really begun to count the number of dead," he said.
"Soon, the search and rescue people will make way for the humanitarian agencies whose job it is to look after the extraordinary numbers of those affected for the next months," he added.
๐ฑ.๐ฏ ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ต๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ: ๐จ๐ก
As of now, the official number of fatalities from the earthquake stands at 24,617 in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria, however, many rescue workers are still searching through the rubble in search of survivors.
According to AFP, the United Nations has warned that a minimum of 870,000 people across Turkey and Syria urgently require hot meals, and it is estimated that up to 5.3 million individuals may have become homeless in Syria alone.
๐ช๐๐ข ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฒ ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐พ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ, ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ $๐ฐ๐ฎ.๐ด ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that the earthquake has impacted close to 26 million individuals and has made an urgent appeal for $42.8 million to address the immediate health needs in Turkey and Syria.
According to Turkey's disaster agency, more than 32,000 individuals from Turkish organizations are actively involved in search-and-rescue operations, with the assistance of 8,294 international rescue workers.
