Rescue teams accomplished 'incredible work' in quake-hit Türkiye: Swiss academic

By Muhammet Ikbal Arslan

GENEVA (AA) - Rescue teams have accomplished "incredible work" in the twin earthquakes that shook Türkiye and Syria on Feb. 6, a Swiss academic said.

Thanks to the long-standing preparations for such disasters in Türkiye, people were able to receive emergency medical care, Zurich University faculty member Valerie Luyckx told local daily Tages-Anzeiger on Saturday.

Luyckx, a kidney disease specialist, said that she is in constant contact with the experts in Türkiye and the Doctors Without Borders' teams in the disaster area.

Noting that the local emergency services did "everything possible under these conditions," she said that some employees slept in the vehicles in the field in order to quickly return to their jobs.

More than 45,000 people have been killed in the two quakes that shook Türkiye on Feb. 6, according to officials.

The strong tremors, which were centered in Kahramanmaras province, have affected about 13.5 million people across 10 other provinces: Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig.