The death toll in Turkey rose to 22,327 people on Saturday night, according to the country’s disaster management authority.
The death toll in Syria stood at 3,553.
President Endorgan vowed to take steps to start rebuilding cities in the hardest-hit southeast region. He said hundreds of thousands of buildings were uninhabitable across the south of the country.
“We have declared a state of emergency,” the Turkish president said during a visit to the disaster area. “This means that, from now on, the people involved in looting must know that the firm hand of the State is on their backs,” he specified.
Turkish authorities arrested 48 people for looting establishments and shops, state media reported.
The suspects were held in eight different provinces as part of investigations into looting after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked the region.
“Trust us. We do not and will not leave our citizens on the streets, in hardship or in poverty. We are making plans to rebuild hundreds of thousands of houses with their infrastructure and superstructure, and to restore our cities destroyed in the earthquake.”
He said that 160,000 people are currently working in ten provinces along with teams from abroad.
