UPDATE - At least 41,020 dead from powerful twin earthquakes in southern Türkiye

UPDATE WITH DEATH TOLL, MORE DETAILS

By Faruk Zorlu and Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) - At least 41,020 people have been killed by two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Feb. 6, the country’s disaster management agency said on Sunday.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes were centered in Kahramanmaras and struck 10 other provinces – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Kilis, Osmaniye, Elazig, and Sanliurfa. More than 13 million people have been affected by the devastating quakes.

Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the strong tremors that struck Türkiye in the space of less than 10 hours.

The quakes were followed by over 6,210 aftershocks, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) said in a statement.

A total of 19,436 local and international search and rescue personnel are currently working in the field, AFAD said.

Teams set up a total of 216,166 tents, which were dispatched by ministries, relevant institutions as well as other countries and international organizations, in the earthquake zone, it added.

The search and rescue efforts have been completed in the earthquake zone, except in the southern Kahramanmaras and Hatay provinces, Yunus Sezer, head of the AFAD, told reporters.

Sezer said search and rescue efforts continued in nearly 40 buildings, while over 6,000 containers have been set up.

Noting that evacuations from the earthquake zone to other provinces continued, Sezer said: "Over 460,900 people have so far been evacuated."

"We are currently hosting 318,970 victims who were evacuated from the quakes-hit region, in public guesthouses, hotels, and other accommodation facilities," he added.

Also, in the region, "we are continuing to host over 1 million disaster victims in public guesthouses, hotels, and other accommodation facilities," he said.

He said that the cash aid of 10,000 Turkish liras ($531) has been given to nearly 800,000 citizens.