ISTANBUL: The death toll in the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria has crossed the 16,000 mark.
With rescue operations entering its fourth day on Thursday (February 9), hopes of finding more people alive in the rubble have started to fade.
Officials and medics said 12,873 people had died in Turkey and 3162 in Syria from Monday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake, bringing the confirmed total to 16,035, AFP reported.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said the earthquakes are the worst to hit the region “in over a 100 years”.
The US President offered his condolences to Turkey in a speech in Wisconsin on Wednesday.
“As I told President Erdogan, and I called him immediately when the first quake hit, the US is offering full support,” Biden said.
He added that the US was also supporting humanitarian partners in Syria.
Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the province of Hatay on Wednesday, a hard-hit area where residents criticized the government’s alleged slow response.
Erdogan, who is up for re-election in May, acknowledged problems with the response to the catastrophic earthquake, but said winter weather and the quake’s destruction of the runway at the Hatay airport disrupted the response.
“It is not possible to be prepared for such a disaster. We will not leave any of our citizens uncared for,” Erdogan said.
He added that “dishonourable people” were spreading “lies and slander” about the government’s actions.
Erdogan also said the government would distribute 10,000 Turkish lira (532 USD) to affected families.