Twenty people died or went missing on Wednesday March 15 in floods that hit two provinces in southeastern Turkey already affected by the devastating earthquake of February 6, adding to the distress of survivors.
Twelve people lost their lives in the town of Sanliurfa, including five Syrians found dead in the basement of a building and two others died in the neighboring province of Adiyaman, including a one-and-a-half-year-old baby. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu reported.
Five people are missing. More than 160 rescuers and divers have been dispatched to the region, the minister said.
Video footage shows towns overrun by torrential, muddy waters; on one of them we see a man in a beige suit and tie trying to stay on the surface while he is carried away at high speed by the brown waves.
The province of Adiyaman and the neighboring province of Malatya, hard hit by the wells, were among the most affected and suffered significant destruction during the earthquake.
At least one of the victims who died in Adiyaman was inside a container converted into emergency accommodation when she was trapped by the waters, according to the official Anadolu Agency.
On one of the videos shot in the province of Malatya, the water level rose around the white tents where survivors of the earthquake are sheltering.
Some two million quake survivors have been temporarily housed in tent and container villages in Turkey’s eleven quake-hit provinces.
Source: lecourrier
