Turkey is paying for Erdogan’s missteps
For many years, it wasn’t the economy that determined voting behaviour in Turkey. The country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, won almost every election he contested despite a deteriorating economic outlook.
Second powerful earthquake hit Turkey on Monday with a magnitude of 7.5 after 912 people had been killed, with 5,383 wounded just nine hours after the first quake struck the country’s Pazarcik district, according to the US Geological Survey.
“Notable quake, preliminary info: M 7.5 – 4 km SSE of Ekinozu, Turkey,” USGS said in a tweet. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the 7.8 magnitude quakes as the country’s “biggest disaster” since 1939. He said that 912 people had been killed, with 5,383 wounded, according to Anadolu Agency.
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said the 7.7 magnitude quake struck at 4.17 a.m. (0117GMT) and was centred in the Pazarcik district in the southern province of Kahramanmaras. The quake occurred at a depth of 7 kilometres (4.3 miles).
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AFAD said in a statement that 78 aftershocks occurred following the earthquake.
Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Adiyaman, Malatya, Osmaniye, Hatay, and Kilis provinces are heavily affected by the quake, as per Anadolu Agency.
“The number of people rescued from the rubbles has reached 2,470. The number of buildings that collapsed is 2,818,” Erdogan said.
Vice President Fuat Oktay said at a news conference that Erdogan has been taking up the updates and reviewing the relief efforts since the moment of the earthquake.
The 7.8 temblor and its aftershocks also severely damaged Gaziantep Castle in Turkey, which ranks among the UNESCO World Heritage sites.
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