Earthquake Deaths in Turkey Cross 1999 Toll
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The death toll in Turkey has reached a grim milestone, exceeding the number of people killed in a 1999 earthquake in Istanbul that had remained the most devastating in the country for decades.
The death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquakes has passed 21,500. At least 18,342 people have been killed in Turkey, according to the country’s officials.
At least 3,377 people are known to have died in Syria.
The highest estimates put the 1999 death toll from the magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Istanbul at about 18,000.
Turkey’s geological location makes it prone to major earthquakes. In 1939, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in northeastern Turkey was estimated to have killed over 32,000 people.
The World Bank has promised $1.78 billion to Turkey in relief and recovery assistance.
UN chief Antonio Guterres is calling on the international community to provide more money for earthquake relief and has announced a donor conference for next week.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Safir Salim, of the Middle East council of Churches, said the situation is worsening for people made homeless in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
He said after the earthquake, more people have had to leave their homes after engineer deemed them unsafe.
