Today, Sunday, Turkey announced the cessation of efforts to search for survivors in all areas hit by the earthquake on the sixth of this month, with the exception of the most affected states of Kahramanmaraş and Hatay.

The head of the Turkish Disaster Management Authority (AFAD), Yunus Sezer, said, "The search efforts have ended in many states. They are continuing in the states of Kahramanmaraş and Hatay, in about forty buildings."

The 7.7-magnitude earthquake, which caused massive damage in the south of the country and in northwestern Syria, killed 40,689 people in Turkey, according to the latest official toll published by the administration on Sunday.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay stated that 105,000 buildings have collapsed or been severely damaged and will be demolished.

New earthquake

With the continuation of the aftershocks after the twin earthquakes that struck the region at dawn on February 6, a 4.7-magnitude earthquake hit Sunday afternoon, Malatya, central Turkey.

The disaster management agency said the quake struck the Yesilyurt district at a depth of 7 km.

No casualties were reported in the quake.

Earlier today, Sunday, AFAD reported that the two violent earthquakes that hit the Turkish-Syrian border area have been followed so far by more than 6,000 aftershocks.


Blinkin in Turkey

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Turkey today, Sunday, on a visit in which he seeks to confirm the support of the United States.

Blinken's plane landed at Incirlik Air Base in southeastern Turkey, which he arrived from Germany, where he participated in the Munich Security Conference.

It is from this base that humanitarian aid, especially American aid, is transferred for distribution to the areas affected by the earthquake.

Blinken said, in press statements at the base, that he was "very sad to see the devastation in Turkey and expressed his country's commitment to do everything in its power to assist in rescue, relief and recovery efforts."

He pointed out that Washington provided 180 million dollars in aid to the earthquake victims and is looking to send more, and provided humanitarian aid to the earthquake victims in Syria, amounting to 50 million dollars.

Blinken (left) and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu at Incirlik base today (Anatolia)

Aids and meetings

According to US sources, the Secretary of State will meet in the afternoon with military and humanitarian officials in charge of coordinating the distribution of US aid to the victims of the disaster, and will be briefed on the humanitarian efforts being made in Hatay province.

As of the day after the earthquake that also struck Syria, the United States deployed a number of search and rescue teams that included about two hundred personnel, and released a batch of $85 million in humanitarian aid.

Washington also provided "Black Hawk" and "Chinook" helicopters to transport supplies.

For its part, the United Nations launched an appeal to raise one billion dollars in order to provide international assistance to Turkey.

Blinken is scheduled to go to Ankara in the evening, where he will meet on Monday, especially Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The visit is the first by the US Secretary of State to Turkey since he took office two years ago, and it was scheduled before the earthquake that forced the agenda to be amended.

At dawn on February 6, an earthquake of 7.7 degrees struck southern Turkey and northern Syria, followed by another hours later with a magnitude of 7.6 and hundreds of violent aftershocks, which left great losses in lives and property in both countries.