President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to Turkey’s south on Wednesday to assess post-quake activities in disaster areas following Monday’s catastrophic earthquakes.
“President Erdogan will travel to the earthquake-affected area and closely monitor the work,” the Communication Directorate announced on Twitter.
According to the latest data released by the disaster service on Wednesday, at least 6,234 people were killed and 37,011 were injured in Türkiye after two major earthquakes rattled the country’s southern section on Monday.
The 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes, which were centered in the Kahramanmaras province, impacted ten provinces and affected almost 13 million people.
Several nations in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, were affected by the two huge earthquakes that slammed Turkey in less than ten hours.
Erdogan is set to visit the city center of Kahramanmaras first, followed by the Pazarcik region.
Later in the day, the president is set to travel to Hatay for inspections.
To expedite search and rescue activities, Turkey announced a state of emergency in ten provinces on Tuesday, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.
“We are confronting one of the greatest calamities not just in Turkish Republic history, but also in our region and the world,” Erdogan stated on Tuesday.