自然灾害

Turkey-Syria death toll tops that of devastating 1999 quake

Rescue efforts hampered by freezing weather but convoy of UN trucks manages to reach northern Syria

The total death toll from this week’s earthquake in southeastern Turkey has exceeded that of the devastating İzmit quake in 1999, underlining the scale of the unfolding disaster as rescue workers continued to pull bodies from the rubble.

More than 17,500 people have died in Turkey and neighbouring Syria, according to the latest figures released on Thursday by authorities in the affected area. This takes the tally of deaths above the 17,118 recorded for the huge quake that ravaged north-western Turkey almost 25 years ago.

The quake in İzmit, about 70 miles from Istanbul, carries particular resonance in Turkey as it is the worst in many people’s living memory. A massive earthquake in 1939 that struck Erzincan in the east of the country killed nearly 33,000.

The turmoil of 1999 also sparked a national conversation in Turkey about building standards, which has been inflamed this week as seismologists and engineers say the loss of life has been significantly worsened due to the low quality of construction in the affected area.

您已阅读27%(1034字),剩余73%(2820字)包含更多重要信息,订阅以继续探索完整内容,并享受更多专属服务。
版权声明:本文版权归FT中文网所有,未经允许任何单位或个人不得转载,复制或以任何其他方式使用本文全部或部分,侵权必究。
设置字号×
最小
较小
默认
较大
最大
分享×