Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 8th: Comprehensive Xinhua News Agency foreign correspondent reports: According to the latest news from the Turkish and Syrian governments and rescue departments on the 8th, the strong earthquake in southern Turkey near the Syrian border has killed more than 11,000 people in the two countries, about 5.4 Thousands of people were injured.
On the same day, the Chinese rescue team arrived in Hatay City, Hatay Province, the hardest hit area in Turkey by the earthquake, ready to carry out search and rescue operations.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the city of Kahramanmaras, the epicenter of the earthquake, on the 8th.
He said that the earthquake has killed 8,574 people and injured nearly 50,000 people across the country.
According to news from the Syrian Ministry of Health and rescue agencies on the 8th, the death toll in the earthquake in Syria has increased to about 2,500, and more than 4,000 people were injured.
According to Turkish National Radio and Television, Erdogan said that on the day after the earthquake, there were indeed some problems in the government's emergency response, but the situation is now under control.
Erdogan also said that the victims can temporarily stay in hotels in the Mediterranean tourist cities of Antalya and Mersin.
The government will distribute subsidies to each family affected by the disaster, and will build new houses for the victims in the 10 disaster-affected provinces in the coming year.
According to the Earth Disaster and Emergency Management Agency, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 occurred at 4:17 a.m. local time (9:17 a.m. Beijing time) in Kahramanmaras Province on the 6th, with a focal depth of 7 kilometers. The surrounding Gaziantep The earthquake was felt strongly in many provinces such as , Hatay, and Malatya.
Subsequently, several aftershocks occurred in the nearby area.
Hatay province, close to the Syrian border, currently has the highest death toll.
The 82-member Chinese rescue team flew more than 8,000 kilometers on an Air China chartered flight and arrived at Adana Airport in Turkey at 4:30 a.m. local time on the 8th.
At 1:30 pm on the 8th, after several hours of difficult travel, the Chinese rescue team arrived in Hatay City, Hatay Province, the hardest-hit area of the earthquake.
According to the arrangement of local officials, rescue teams are preparing to launch search and rescue operations in two areas.
The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations announced on the 8th that Russia has decided to send a second earthquake rescue team to Turkey.
The rescue team consists of 50 rescue workers and 11 doctors, and has already taken a transport plane to the disaster area.
The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund announced on the 7th that it will allocate 25 million US dollars to support humanitarian operations after the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
(Participating reporters: Xiong Sihao, Wu Siyu, Geng Pengyu, Wang Jiangang, Wang Jian)