AFP
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced a State of Emergency in his earthquake-ravaged country as the death toll surpasses 8000 in Turkey and Syria.
He made the announcement on Tuesday after being briefed on the work underway in the area of the earthquakes.
The disaster declaration comes as ten provinces were hit by earthquakes, the strongest with a magnitude of 7.8, and will be in force for three months.
"We have decided to declare a state of emergency in order for search and rescue operations to be carried out rapidly”
President Erdogan said two major earthquakes, with epicenters are the Pazarcik and Elbistan Districts of Kahramanmaras, have "caused grave destruction in 10 provinces within a large area where 13.5 million citizens live."
He said "experts describe these two earthquakes as unprecedented earth movements which are independent of one another but still trigger each other. Both of the earthquakes took place in such a close proximity as seven kilometers to the earth's surface, which exponentially increases the intensity of the destruction."
President Erdogan said as a result, "we are faced with one of the biggest disasters of not only our Republican history but also of our region and the world."
