Thousands of foreign aid workers have arrived in Turkey to help rescue people from under the rubble and deliver urgent supplies to areas stricken by this week’s twin earthquakes.
(Bloomberg) — Thousands of foreign aid workers have arrived in Turkey to help rescue people from under the rubble and deliver urgent supplies to areas stricken by this week’s twin earthquakes.
The death toll has surpassed 16,000 across Turkey and neighboring Syria, in a disaster US President Joe Biden said was one of the worst to hit the region in more than a century. The US has positioned an aircraft carrier closer to Turkey in case it needs additional assistance.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has declared a three-month state of emergency in the affected areas, will visit the quake-hit provinces of Gaziantep, Osmaniye and Kilis on Thursday.
Key Developments
- Erdogan Vows Building Blitz to Renew Quake-Hit Areas Within Year
- Turkey Risks Inflation Surge, Budget Breach as Quake Costs Mount
- Twitter Access Blocked in Turkey Days After Massive Earthquakes
- Turkey Halts Stock Trading for Five Days and Cancels Some Trades
- Erdogan Wants Elections in May Despite Earthquake Fallout
(All times Istanbul, GMT +3)
Turkish Presidency Criticizes Politicians Who ‘Sow Division’ (10:40 a.m.)
“This is no time for politics, and we strongly condemn some statements made by some political figures that seek to sow divisions,” Turkish President Erdogan’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun says on Twitter.
Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has said Erdogan is responsible for failures that amplified the damage.
More than 5,000 foreign personnel involved in rescue (10:31 a.m.)
Fifty-one countries have dispatched rescue teams to Turkey, the government says. There are 5,125 foreign personnel in the field. Other countries are expected to send teams.
BP Says Unclear When Exports of Azeri Oil Will Resume (10.20 a.m.)
Exports of Azeri oil from Turkey’s port of Ceyhan still haven’t resumed and it’s unclear when they will, a BP Plc spokesperson said.
All quays at the eastern Mediterranean port — which normally handles about 1 million barrels a day of crude — were shut on Monday for safety checks following two devastating earthquakes.
Flows through the pipelines running to the terminal restarted late on Tuesday.
Economists See Hit to Turkey GDP, Budget Risk (09.49 a.m.)
Early estimates of the economic damage point to mounting inflation and budget risks.
Nick Stadtmiller, head of product at Medley Global Advisors in New York, said the disaster “increases the risk of another market meltdown” amid pre-existing vulnerabilities in the currency and external account. Oxford Economics said near-term disruptions to activity in the 10 provinces will alone shave 0.3% to 0.4% off GDP.
Piotr Matys, a senior analyst at In Touch Capital Markets said the central bank may come under “even stronger pressure from the Erdogan administration to cut rates to finance recovery.”
Read more: Turkey Risks Inflation Surge, Budget Breach as Quake Costs Mount
Death Toll Crosses 16,000 (8:53 a.m.)
The number of dead in Turkey and Syria rose to 16,429, according to Turkish state media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which uses a network of activists on the ground.
Pentagon Deploys Aircraft Carrier Closer to Turkey (8:10 a.m.)
Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder says US is positioning its USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier closer to Turkey should it require additional quake assistance.
Biden: Quakes Worst to Hit Region “Over 100 Years” (7:54 a.m.)
US President Joe Biden said the earthquakes are the worst to hit the region “in over a 100 years” as he offered his condolences to Turkey in a speech in Wisconsin on Wednesday. “As I told President Erdogan, and I called him immediately when the first quake hit, the US is offering full support,” Biden said, adding that the US was also supporting humanitarian partners in Syria.
Three Dead in Jailbreak Attempt in Turkey Quake Zone (7:50 a.m.)
Three inmates were killed as security forces foiled an attempt by a group to escape from a jail in Hatay province, the Turkish justice ministry said in a statement on Thursday. Nine inmates were wounded, it said.
Disaster ‘10 Times Worse Than Seen’ Businessman Says (7:30 a.m.)
Mustafa Buluntu, head of the trade and industry chamber of quake-hit Kahramanmaras province, said the disaster was “10 times worse than seen from TVs,” Ekonomi newspaper reported. “Half of our workforce has died,” Buluntu said, adding that many factories in the Turkish province have suffered serious damage.
Miracle Survivors (6:30 a.m.)
After 73 hours, a five-year-old girl and her parents were evacuated alive from the wreckage of an apartment building toppled by the earthquake in the southeastern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Turkey restores access to Twitter (6:11 a.m.)
Turkey has restored access to Twitter after the social-media platform agreed to do more to tackle disinformation in the aftermath of the disaster, Hurriyet newspaper said.
–With assistance from Selcan Hacaoglu, Beril Akman and Patrick Sykes.
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