BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 8. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently in Kahramanmaras province which was severely damaged after the deadly earthquake, Trend reports.
Turkish Minister of Internal Affairs Suleyman Soylu and other officials met President Erdogan, who arrived at Kahramanmaras Airport, and informed him about the ongoing rescue operations in the earthquake zone.
In addition, it is expected that the president will also visit Hatay, which was also seriously damaged by the earthquake, in order to get acquainted with the progress of search and rescue operations on the spot.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 hit southeastern Türkiye on Feb. 6, 2023. The earthquake occurred at a depth of seven kilometers in the Pazarcik region of Kahramanmaras Province. The provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep, Kilis, Osmaniye, Malatya, Adiyaman, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, and Kahramanmaras were subjected to severe destruction.
The quake’s epicenter was located 26 km away from the city of Gaziantep with a population of about 1.06 million.
Türkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said that three more earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.4-6.6 rocked Gaziantep province in south-eastern Türkiye. As a result of the earthquake that hit Türkiye, strong tremors were also felt in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Cyprus.
According to the latest data, as a result of the earthquake, 7,108 people were killed, 40,910 people were injured, and 5,894 buildings were destroyed.