Turkey President Erdogan admits 'shortcomings' as death toll tops 16,000-mark

The death toll from the earthquake that jolted Turkey and Syria is now at least 16,000 people.

Istanbul, Feb 09: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted the "shortcomings" and some problems with the response on Thursday reported CNN.

"Of course there are shortcomings. The conditions are obvious. It is not possible to be prepared for such a disaster. We will not leave any of our citizens uncared for," said the Turkish president while speaking about the rescue operations after the multiple earthquakes.

The earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on Monday killed more than 16,000 people and flattened thousands of buildings in Turkiye and neighbouring Syria. Its epicentre was in Turkiye's southeastern province of Kahramanmaras and was felt as far away as Cairo (Egypt).

Apart from the concerns over the country's preparedness, the latest prediction by the World Health Organization said up to 23 million people could be affected by the disaster.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan toured a "tent city" in hard-hit Kahramanmaras where people forced from their homes were living.

Search teams from more than two dozen countries have joined tens of thousands of local emergency personnel on the ground in Syria and Turkiye, and aid pledges have poured in from around the world.

But the scale of destruction from the earthquake and its powerful aftershocks was so immense and spread over such a wide area, including places isolated by Syria's ongoing civil war, that many people were still waiting for help.

Experts said the survival window for those trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings or unable to access water, food, protection from the elements or medical attention was closing rapidly almost three days after the quake.

Rescuers at times used excavators in their searches and picked gingerly through debris at other points to locate survivors or the dead. With thousands of buildings toppled, it was not clear how many people might still be caught in the rubble.

Turkiye's disaster management agency said Wednesday that people who died in the earthquake but cannot be identified would be buried within five days even if they remained unnamed.

The agency, known as AFAD, said unidentified victims would be buried following DNA tests, fingerprinting and after being photographed for future identification.

The move is in line with Islamic funeral rites which require a burial to take place as quickly as possible after a person's death.

with PTI inputs