Turkey earthquake: Girl, 17, saved from rubble after over 248 hours | World news

Over 248 hours after massive earthquakes struck Turkey, authorities have rescued a 17-year-old girl from the rubble of a collapsed house in the south central district of Kahramanmaras, Reuters told state broadcaster TRT Haber. Rescuers continue to evacuate people even 10 days after the earthquake that caused massive destruction and loss of lives in the country.

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According to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD), the death toll in Turkey has risen to 36,187, Reuters reported. He added that more than 4,300 earthquakes have hit the disaster zone since the first quake.

On February 6, the first major earthquake struck central Turkey and northwestern Syria with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale. Turkey experienced two more earthquakes of 7.6 and 6.0 magnitudes later in the day. On February 13, another earthquake of about 4.7 hit the southern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The World Health Organization on Tuesday said the earthquake was the “worst natural disaster” in 100 years in its European region. “We are witnessing the worst disaster in the WHO European region for a century and we are still learning about its magnitude,” Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, told a press conference.

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Meanwhile, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called the earthquakes “as big as atomic bombs”. He also said that hundreds of thousands of houses were uninhabitable in southern Turkey, adding “any country will face issues during such a disaster”, Reuters reported.

(With inputs from Reuters)