Turkey earthquake death toll rises to 45,000

ISTANBUL, March 1 (Reuters) – The death toll from last month’s devastating earthquake in Turkey stands at 45,089, the Emergency and Disaster Management Authority (AFAD) said on Wednesday, saying the number total casualties, including Syria, amount to approximately 51,000 people.

The earthquake and the strong tremors that followed injured more than 108,000 people in Turkey and forced millions to take shelter in tents or try to move to other cities.

President Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to rebuild homes within a year, but it will be many months before thousands of people can leave tents or containers, and daily queues for food, and move into permanent accommodation.

More than 160,000 Turkish buildings with 520,000 apartments collapsed or suffered heavy damage in the disaster, the worst in the country’s modern history.

Some two million people have fled the area, which has suffered more than 11,000 aftershocks since the initial quake, AFAD said in a statement.

The organization claimed that it had erected more than 350,000 tents and there were tent camps in 332 locations in the region. Container colonies have been established in 162 locations.

(Reporting by Daren Butler; Editing in Spanish by Tomás Cobos)