Syria-Turkey Earthquake: Death Toll May Hit 20,000- WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has projected that up to 20,000 people may die as a result of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

On Monday, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey with a ripple effect in the neighboring country of Syria.

The death toll from the earthquakes stands at almost 4,500 people as of Tuesday.

WHO senior emergency officer for Europe, Catherine Smallwood revealed that the fatality figure might reach eight-fold in the coming week.

Smallwood reportedly spoke when the death toll stood at around 2,600.

“There’s continued potential of further collapses to happen so we do often see in the order of eight-fold increases on the initial numbers,” AFP quoted her as saying.

“We always see the same thing with earthquakes, unfortunately, which is that the initial reports of the numbers of people who have died or who have been injured will increase quite significantly in the week that follows.

(AFP)