Turkey President Declares State Of Emergency After the Earthquake || QUICK SMART NEWS
"We have decided to declare a state of emergency After the Eathquack to ensure that our (rescue and recovery) work can be carried out quickly," Erdogan said in televised remarks.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday declared a three-month state of emergency in 10 southeastern provinces hit by a major earthquake that has claimed thousands of lives.
Rescue in recovery work in the isolated region near Syria has been hamstrung by a fierce winter storm that has made some roads impassable and slowed the delivery of food and aid.The sturdiness of the buildings is also a factor.
Dr. Carmen Solana, reader in volcanology and risk communication at the University of Portsmouth, says: "The resistant infrastructure is unfortunately patchy in South Turkey and especially Syria, so saving lives now mostly relies on response. The next 24 hours are crucial to find survivors. After 48 hours the number of survivors decreases enormously."
This was a region where there had not been a major earthquake for more than 200 years or any warning signs, so the level of preparedness would be less than for a region which was more used to dealing with tremors.
"We will quickly complete the presidential and parliamentary processes related to this decision, which will cover our 10 provinces where the earthquake has been experienced and will last for three months."
Erdogan's government is coming under growing pressure on social media for what his critics view as a slow response to Turkey's biggest earthquake in nearly a century.
The latest toll showed Monday's 7.8-magnitude tremor and its aftershocks killing 3,549 people in Turkey and 1,602 in government- and rebel-controlled parts of Syria.
Erdogan said his government would send more than 50,000 aid workers to the area and allocate 100 billion liras ($5.3 billion) in financial help.
Erdogan's handling of the biggest natural disaster in his two-decade rule could prove crucial ahead of tightly-contested parliamentary and presidential polls on May 14.
