Turkish president continues visits in country's quake-hit provinces

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to visit country's earthquake-hit southern region on Friday to monitor search and rescue efforts in the disaster zone.

At least 18,342 people were killed and 74,242 others injured in two powerful earthquakes that shook the region on Monday.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in the Kahramanmaras province, affected 13 million people across 10 provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

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

Erdogan is expected to visit Adiyaman and Malatya on Friday.

To inspect the ongoing search, rescue, and relief efforts, Erdogan has so far visited Kahramanmaras, Hatay, Adana, Gaziantep, Osmaniye and Kilis, where he also met earthquake victims.

Erdogan on Thursday said the quakes in southern Türkiye could be described as the "disaster of the century," underlining that the Turkish state had mobilized all its means to help victims.