Turkey decided on Sunday, fourteen days after the Feb. 6 earthquake, to stop searching except in the two hardest-hit provinces of Kahramanmaras and Hatay, the state relief agency (AFAD) said.
“Search efforts have ended in many provinces. They continue in about forty buildings in Kahramanmaras and Hatay provinces,” explained Unus Sezer, the chief of Afad. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated the south of the country and Syria killed 40,689 people in Turkey, according to the latest official report released by Afad on Sunday.
In total, more than 45,000 people died in both countries. Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay reported that 105,000 buildings had collapsed or were badly damaged and will be demolished.
More details to come.