The World Health Organization expects a significant jump in the death toll in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northwestern Syria on Monday, followed by other earthquakes and aftershocks, turning many buildings to rubble.
Officials said the 7.8-magnitude quake that struck southern Turkey early Monday was the worst the country has seen this century, killing more than 1,000 people there and about 550 in Syria.
This earthquake was followed by another large earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7.
“I think we can expect the death toll to increase significantly,” Rick Brennan, director of the WHO’s regional office for emergencies in the eastern Mediterranean, told Archyde.com. “Many buildings have collapsed, and that will increase significantly in the vicinity of the epicenter.”
He stated that the World Health Organization would increase the number of its staff in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the epicenter, and is looking at options for sending emergency medical teams to the region.
He said the aftershocks of the first quake were hampering rescue efforts.
And he added, “Rescue teams find it difficult to get there to pull people out. Buildings that may have suffered some damage, but are still standing, could be subject to another tremor and may collapse.”
He added that Syria, which has already been suffering from a humanitarian crisis that has been going on for years, great economic hardship and an outbreak of cholera, is “in the wind”, following the deadly earthquake.
“The combination of all these crises leads to enormous suffering,” he said.