Turkey earthquake in 2023 claimed about 60,000 lives.
The interior ministry announced on Friday that 53,537 people had died in Turkey as a result of the devastating earthquake that struck the country's southeast last year, raising the total death toll to almost 60,000.
According to the authorities of neighboring Syria, 1,414 persons perished in its territory on February 6, 2023, before sunrise.
Officials in northern Syria with Turkish support estimate that there are 4,537 dead in rebel-held areas.
With 59,488 confirmed deaths, the last year's earthquake is the deadliest since the 1970 Peruvian earthquake claimed 67,000 lives.
In the initial weeks following the earthquake, Turkey's prior official death toll was 50,783 persons.
The new statistics were made public by Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on the eve of the disaster's anniversary, which hit eleven regions in southeast Turkey.
According to Yerlikaya, 14 million people in Turkey were impacted by the earthquake.
The original 7.8-magnitude earthquake and subsequent aftershocks, one with a 7.5-magnitude later that day, destroyed about 38,901 buildings.
According to Yerlikaya, Turkey has assembled 215,224 metal containers to accommodate 691,000 survivors who have lost their homes and are unable to find new places on their own.
AFP
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