ANKARA, Turkiye – February 7 (ONLINE) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced a state of emergency for three months in 10 southeastern provinces hit by Monday’s massive earthquakes.
“Based on the authority given to us by Article 119 of the Constitution, we decided to declare a state of emergency,” Erdogan said on Tuesday at the State Information Coordination Center in the capital Ankara.
“We will quickly complete the presidential and parliamentary processes about the state of emergency decision, which will cover 10 provinces where earthquakes have occurred and will last for three months,” he added.
Erdogan said that Türkiye is facing one of the biggest disasters not only in the history of the Turkish Republic but also in its geography and the world.
“Our biggest relief is that over 8,000 of our citizens have been rescued from the rubble so far,” Erdogan added.
Erdogan’s remarks came after a 7.7 magnitude tremor early Monday struck the Pazarcik district of Kahramanmaras province, then about nine hours later, a 7.6 magnitude quake centred in Kahramanmaras’s Elbistan district rocked the region, affecting several other provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.
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