Death toll rises, rescues dwindle in earthquake aftermath

 
INA- sources
 
 
The death toll from the earthquake, which Turkish Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called “the disaster of the century,” has risen to nearly 21,000, eclipsing the more than 18,400 who died in the 2011 earthquake off Fukushima, Japan, that triggered a tsunami and the estimated 18,000 people who died in a temblor near the Turkish capital, Istanbul, in 1999.
 
The new figure, which is certain to rise, included over 17,600 people in Turkey and more than 3,300 in civil war-torn Syria. Tens of thousands were also injured and many tens of thousands have been left homeless.
 
Aerial footage revealed the scope of devastation, with entire neighborhoods of high-rises reduced to twisted metal, pulverized concrete and exposed wires.
 
Source: AP