Foreign News

Turkey’s President Vows To Rebuild Country After Deadly Quake

Written by Bunmi Abdulraheem

Turkish President, Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to press on with rescue and recovery efforts more than a week after a devastating quake struck his country and neighbouring Syria

Reports on Wednesday morning says an elderly woman has become the latest to be pulled from the rubble.

The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria has risen beyond 41,000, with many survivors enduring freezing winter temperatures, having been left homeless by the devastation in cities in both countries, it said.

“We will continue our work until we remove the last citizen left under the collapsed buildings,” Mr Erdogan said late on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting held at the headquarters of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).

Damage assessment of buildings, of which tens of thousands were destroyed, will be completed in a week and reconstruction will begin within months, he said.

“We will rebuild all the houses and workplaces, destroyed or made uninhabitable by the earthquake, and hand them over to the rightful owners,” he added.

More than 105,000 people were injured in the quake, he said, with more than 13,000 still being treated in hospital.