Turkey-Syria earthquake: Death toll now over 20,000

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency agency has said the death toll from the earthquake has now risen above 20,000.

State media in Syria said the death toll in government-held areas had risen to 1,347, up from 1,262. Earlier, the White Helmets civil defence group said 1,930 people had been reported dead in rebel-held areas in the North-West of the country. It brings the overall total to 20,411.

Experts have said the casualty figures were expected to continue to rise in the coming days.

Wall Street Journal explained that “more than 20,000 people have been killed by the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria. At least 17,134 people have died in Turkey, a figure that surpasses the death toll from a traumatic 1999 earthquake in the country. In Syria, authorities reported 3,317 deaths.”