Aid “is not going as fast as expected,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged for the first time on Friday, five days after earthquakes that killed more than 22,000 people in Turkey and Syria.
“The destruction affected so many buildings (…) that unfortunately we were unable to carry out our interventions as quickly as we expected,” said the visiting head of state in the city of Adiyaman, in the south of the country, badly affected by the disaster. Erdogan had already acknowledged on Wednesday “gaps” in the earthquake response, adding that it is “impossible to be prepared for such a disaster.”
An omnipresent president but a state that is too inconspicuous
The omnipresent Turkish president, in power for twenty years and who wishes to remain in office during the elections scheduled for May 14, is strongly criticized by the survivors for the slowness of the replacement. In Adiyaman, one of them, Mehmet Yildirim, told AFP on Thursday that he had seen “nobody”, “neither the state, nor the police, nor soldiers” before “2:00 p.m. on the second day of the earthquake.” 34 hours later. the first scare, accusing the authorities of having left the population “alone”.
Many people deplore the lack of available media, particularly material. AFP verified on Thursday the deployment of more lifting equipment and rescuers -especially foreigners- in the city.
“During this period, there may be deficiencies, technical problems, but we are together with our people with all our means,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, adding that Turkey had launched “probably the largest rescue team in the world, with 141,000 rescuers
At least 19,000 bodies were found in the rubble during the first five days of searching, in what is already the deadliest earthquake to hit Turkey since 1939, when 33,000 people died.
Source: BFM TV
