Erdogan visits Turkey earthquake region as death toll hits 11,200

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has travelled to the area worst-hit by the earthquake in the country.

Erdogan is set to visit Kahramanmaras and Hatay as well as Pazarcik, the earthquake’s eipcentre.

Many have expressed anger at the government’s apparent lack of action, with some people claiming that help is yet to reach them.

One woman, Arzu Dedeoglu, in the Numune district of Iskenderun, in southern Turkey, said her two nieces were stuck under the rubble, adding that no help had arrived for a day.

“We have two kids under the rubble, Aysegul and Ilayda. They are gone now, I am sure they are already gone. Why couldn’t they have come earlier?” she said.

Another survivor in the southern city of Antakya, Melek, 64, asked: “Where are the tents, where are food trucks?”

Speaking to Reuters on Wednesday, she said: “We haven’t seen any food distribution here, unlike previous disasters in our country. We survived the earthquake, but we will die here due to hunger or cold here.”

Others on social media said there have been serious inadequacies in the government’s response, with some claiming some of the worst-hit regions have been neglected.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday has risen to over 11,200.

Turkish officials said 8,574 people have died in the country.

It’s difficult to get figures from Syria, but it was learned that the number of confirmed deaths so far is 2,662.

The Star

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