Turkey earthquake death toll rises to 45,968; more than 4,200 victims were Syrian refugees

Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Saturday that death toll in Turkey from last month's massive earthquakes has risen to 45,968. Speaking in sourn city of Antakya devastated by earthquakes, Soylu said 4,267 of people killed in Turkey were Syrian citizens.

In early morning hours of February 6 at 4:17 am, a catastrophic earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 on Richter scale struck Sourn Turkey, with its epicenter located in Pazarcık district of Kahramanmaras province. earthquake h a significant impact on neighboring provinces of ıyaman, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, Malatya, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, and ana, where approximately 14 million people, including 1.8 million Syrian refugees, resided. A second major earthquake, measuring 7.5 on Richter scale, struck region after nine hours, causing ditional severe damage and destruction to alrey damaged buildings.

Following earthquakes that occurred in Kahramanmaraş, aftershocks continue to affect region. On February 20, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake, with its epicenter in Defne district of Hatay, and anor earthquake measuring 5.6 on Richter scale, centered in Malatya on February 27, caused collapse of many alrey damaged buildings and contributed to overall death toll.

Some recent updates from Turkey

• International Organization for Migration (IOM) prepared a report called "2023 Earthquakes Displacement" which revealed that 2.7 million people left affected area following earthquakes.
• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has issued a warning, urging for a sustainable short- and long-term response to dress health, mental health, and psychosocial needs in Turkey and Syria in order to prevent a "second disaster."
• Minister of National Education of Turkey announced that 202,817 students affected by disaster were relocated to or cities.
• UNICEF announced that 2.5 million children urgently require humanitarian aid in disaster zone.
• President of Turkey announced that 214,000 buildings have been destroyed or heavily damaged, and need to be demolished immediately.
• UN OCHA created a map that displays sectors and locations of NGOs working in earthquake zone. organizations operating in ten sectors can be accessed via map.
• Turkish Government reported that a total of 911,942 people affected by disaster received psychosocial support at four mobile social service centers located in provinces of Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Osmaniye, and Malatya.
• It has been officially announced that one million households affected by disaster have received a payment of 10,000 Turkish lira each.
• STL (an organization) continues to provide emergency response in disaster area, specifically in Hatay, ıyaman, Kahramanmaraş, Diyarbakır, and Sanlıurfa, focusing on shelter/NFI, WASH, MHPSS, and protection.