Turkey ends search for survivors as quake toll tops 46,000

Istanbul, Feb 20 (EFE).- Turkish officials called off search and rescue missions for survivors in most quake-struck areas on Monday, as the number of those killed in the country by the February 6 earthquakes stood at 41,156 in Turkey and over 5,000 in northern Syria.

Rescue efforts have been completed in all provinces except in hard-hit Hatay, where 15 buildings are still being searched, according to Yunus Seker, the chairman of AFAD, Turkey’s national emergency service.

So far, AFAD has set up 300,000 tents to shelter survivors, and is planning to build at least 100,000 prefabricated houses over the next two months.

Some 1.3 million people are now living in tents, prefabricated houses or temporary care facilities in the affected regions, while almost 1 million others have left to other provinces, Seker pointed out.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes affected 13 million people across the quake-hit region

According to the latest figures, some 118,000 buildings – totaling 400,000 homes– have collapsed in the 11 quake-affected provinces.EFE

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