The total death toll from this week’s earthquake in southeastern Turkey has exceeded that of the devastating İzmit quake in 1999, underlining the scale of the unfolding disaster as rescue workers continued to pull bodies from the rubble.
More than 17,500 people have died in Turkey and neighbouring Syria, according to the latest figures released on Thursday by authorities in the affected area. This takes the tally of deaths above the 17,118 recorded for the huge quake that ravaged north-western Turkey almost 25 years ago.
The quake in İzmit, about 70 miles from Istanbul, carries particular resonance in Turkey as it is the worst in many people’s living memory. A massive earthquake in 1939 that struck Erzincan in the east of the country killed nearly 33,000.