Turkey, Feb 9: The death toll from Monday’s devastating earthquakes has risen to 12,391 in Turkey, according to the country’s disaster management agency.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the especially hard-hit Hatay province, where more than 3,300 people died and entire neighborhoods were destroyed. Residents there have criticized the government’s efforts, saying rescuers were slow to arrive.
Rescuers in Turkey and Syria battled bitter cold in a race against time to find survivors under buildings flattened by an earthquake.
Tremors that inflicted more suffering on a border area, already plagued by conflict, left people on the streets burning debris to try to stay warm as international aid began to arrive.
But some extraordinary survival tales have emerged, including a newborn baby pulled alive from rubble in Syria, still tied by her umbilical cord to her mother who died in Monday’s quake.
Helpline Issued For People From Karnataka:
The Karnataka government on Tuesday set up a helpline to facilitate information and assistance flow for affected people of Karnataka in Turkey.
State Emergency Operation Helpline Numbers (Revenue Department-Disaster Management)- 080-1070, 080-22340676- will facilitate information and assistance flow (through Ministry of External Affairs) for effected people of Karnataka in Turkey, Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority said in a release.
The state govt has appointed M. Imkongla Jamir as the nodal officer.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said his government is setting up a helpline to come to the aid of people from the state, in the earthquake-hit Turkey
