Quake Death Toll Nears 48,000 in Turkey, 6,000 in Syria

The inside of a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, on March 7, 2023, one month after a massive earthquake struck southeastern Turkey. (Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images)

Istanbul— The head of Turkey’s disaster and emergency management agency has raised the country’s death toll from a magnitude 7.8 earthquake last month to 47,975.

Yunus Sezer said during a news conference on Saturday that the people who died included 6,278 foreigners, with Syrian nationals accounting for the largest share.

The Feb. 6 quake affected 11 Turkish provinces and parts of neighboring Syria. The United Nations has estimated Syria’s death toll at 6,000.

The quake was followed by a magnitude 7.5 temblor hours later, as well as thousands of aftershocks.

At least 230,000 buildings were destroyed or badly damaged in Turkey. Experts have pointed at lax building code enforcement as a major reason why the earthquake was so deadly.