Earthquake Death Toll in Türkiye Rises above 45,000

A man stand in front of a collapsed building after a powerful earthquake in Adiyaman, Türkiye, 28 February 2023. (EPA)
A man stand in front of a collapsed building after a powerful earthquake in Adiyaman, Türkiye, 28 February 2023. (EPA)
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Earthquake Death Toll in Türkiye Rises above 45,000

A man stand in front of a collapsed building after a powerful earthquake in Adiyaman, Türkiye, 28 February 2023. (EPA)
A man stand in front of a collapsed building after a powerful earthquake in Adiyaman, Türkiye, 28 February 2023. (EPA)

The death toll in Türkiye from last month's devastating earthquake has risen to 45,089, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said on Wednesday, bringing the total toll including Syria to about 51,000.

The earthquake and subsequent powerful tremors injured more than 108,000 in Türkiye and left millions sheltering in tents or seeking to move to other cities.

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

He is due to give a speech to his ruling AK Party deputies in parliament at 0900 GMT, with the focus on the quake and presidential and parliamentary elections. They are set to be held by June and present the largest political challenge Erdogan has faced in his two-decade rule.

More than 160,000 Turkish buildings containing 520,000 apartments collapsed or were severely damaged in the disaster, the worst in the country's modern history.

Some two million people were registered as having fled the region, which has been hit by more than 11,000 aftershocks since the initial quake, AFAD said in a statement.

It said it had put up more than 350,000 tents, with tent cities established at 332 places across the region. Container housing settlements were being established in 162 places.

On Tuesday, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that it would support Ankara in its response to the quake.

Türkiye is "doing its best" but still needed international support to help victims, Tedros said.



Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladesh said three student leaders had been taken into custody for their own safety after the government blamed their protests against civil service job quotas for days of deadly nationwide unrest.

Students Against Discrimination head Nahid Islam and two other senior members of the protest group were Friday forcibly discharged from hospital and taken away by a group of plainclothes detectives.

The street rallies organized by the trio precipitated a police crackdown and days of running clashes between officers and protesters that killed at least 201 people, according to an AFP tally of hospital and police data.

Islam earlier this week told AFP he was being treated at the hospital in the capital Dhaka for injuries sustained during an earlier round of police detention.

Police had initially denied that Islam and his two colleagues were taken into custody before home minister Asaduzzaman Khan confirmed it to reporters late on Friday.

"They themselves were feeling insecure. They think that some people were threatening them," he said.

"That's why we think for their own security they needed to be interrogated to find out who was threatening them. After the interrogation, we will take the next course of action."

Khan did not confirm whether the trio had been formally arrested.

Days of mayhem last week saw the torching of government buildings and police posts in Dhaka, and fierce street fights between protesters and riot police elsewhere in the country.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government deployed troops, instituted a nationwide internet blackout and imposed a curfew to restore order.

- 'Carried out raids' -

The unrest began when police and pro-government student groups attacked street rallies organized by Students Against Discrimination that had remained largely peaceful before last week.

Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.

He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location to be tortured before he was released the next morning.

His colleague Asif Mahmud, also taken into custody at the hospital on Friday, told AFP earlier that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week's unrest.

Police have arrested at least 4,500 people since the unrest began.

"We've carried out raids in the capital and we will continue the raids until the perpetrators are arrested," Dhaka Metropolitan Police joint commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker told AFP.

"We're not arresting general students, only those who vandalized government properties and set them on fire."