Turkey declares 7 days of national mourning after earthquakes

International Desk Published: 7 February 2023, 09:24 AM | Updated: 7 February 2023, 09:27 AM
Turkey declares 7 days of national mourning after earthquakes

Turkey declared seven days of national mourning after catastrophic earthquakes and 145 aftershocks devastated the country's southeastern provinces, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday, reports Daily Sabah. 

In a message posted on his official Twitter account, the president said the country has declared a week of mourning and will lower its flags to half-mast at home and at diplomatic missions across the world until Feb. 12, 2023.

At least 2,316 people were killed while 13,293 others were injured following magnitudes 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes with an epicenter in Kahramanmaraş province devastated 10 provinces in the country's southeast.

Tremors from the earthquake that rocked Turkey and neighboring Syria on Monday were felt as far away as Greenland, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland said.

Monday's quake is the deadliest in Turkey since a 7.4-magnitude one in 1999 when more than 17,000 people died, including about 1,000 in Istanbul.