Erdogan announces a new statistic for earthquake victims

Baghdad-INA 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced today, Saturday, that the number of earthquake victims has risen to 21,848.

Erdogan said, during his visit to the earthquake area: "Hundreds of thousands of buildings across southern Turkey are no longer habitable, and the state will start the reconstruction process soon," pointing out that "the number of earthquake victims has risen to 21,848.".

Erdogan stressed, "We intend to rebuild hundreds of thousands of buildings, and we will start taking concrete steps within a few weeks," stressing, "The government will take measures against perpetrators of looting and others in the area affected by the devastating earthquake that occurred last week.".

He added, "We declared a state of emergency, and from now on those involved in looting or kidnapping must know that the strong grip of the state is waiting for them."