Turkey earthquake death toll rises to 45,968; more than 4,200 victims were Syrian refugees

Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Saturday that the death toll in Turkey from last month's massive earthquakes has risen to 45,968. Speaking in the southern city of Antakya devastated by the earthquakes, Soylu said 4,267 of the people killed in Turkey were Syrian citizens.

In the early morning hours of February 6 at 4:17 am, a catastrophic earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale struck Southern Turkey, with its epicenter located in the Pazarcık district of Kahramanmaras province. The earthquake had a significant impact on the neighboring provinces of Adıyaman, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, Malatya, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, and Adana, where approximately 14 million people, including 1.8 million Syrian refugees, resided. A second major earthquake, measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale, struck the region after nine hours, causing additional severe damage and destruction to already damaged buildings.

Following the earthquakes that occurred in Kahramanmaraş, aftershocks continue to affect the region. On February 20, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake, with its epicenter in the Defne district of Hatay, and another earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale, centered in Malatya on February 27, caused the collapse of many already damaged buildings and contributed to the overall death toll.

Some recent updates from Turkey

• The International Organization for Migration (IOM) prepared a report called "2023 Earthquakes Displacement" which revealed that 2.7 million people left the affected area following the earthquakes.
• The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has issued a warning, urging for a sustainable short- and long-term response to address the health, mental health, and psychosocial needs in Turkey and Syria in order to prevent a "second disaster."
• The Minister of National Education of Turkey announced that 202,817 students affected by the disaster were relocated to other cities.
• UNICEF announced that 2.5 million children urgently require humanitarian aid in the disaster zone.
• The President of Turkey announced that 214,000 buildings have been destroyed or heavily damaged, and need to be demolished immediately.
• UN OCHA created a map that displays the sectors and locations of NGOs working in the earthquake zone. The organizations operating in the ten sectors can be accessed via the map.
• The Turkish Government reported that a total of 911,942 people affected by the disaster received psychosocial support at four mobile social service centers located in the provinces of Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Osmaniye, and Malatya.
• It has been officially announced that one million households affected by the disaster have received a payment of 10,000 Turkish lira each.
• STL (an organization) continues to provide emergency response in the disaster area, specifically in Hatay, Adıyaman, Kahramanmaraş, Diyarbakır, and Sanlıurfa, focusing on shelter/NFI, WASH, MHPSS, and protection.