The Turkish Government has raised the number of deaths from the devastating earthquakes of February 6 to 45,968, and has assured that it is not hiding data, after the College of Physicians expressed its doubts about the official data offered to date by the authorities.
"Whatever figure we have we will share with our nation," said Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, updating last night the number of victims in Hatay province, one of the most affected.
The minister again denied that the real number of deaths is higher than the official one in a direct dart to the Turkish College of Physicians.
When the official count spoke of 41,000, the various associations deployed on the ground raised the figure by 50%.
The College of Physicians, in fact, announced that it would present a comprehensive report. That report, published yesterday, avoided specifying any total figure, but demanded greater "transparency" from the authorities when reporting both identified and unidentified victims.
"Uncertainty about the number of deaths related to earthquakes continues," said the report, which gives as an example that the official death toll in Kahramanmaras is around 6,000, while 11,000 burials have been recorded in that municipality. .
However, this discrepancy may be due to the fact that all the figures have not yet been reported or that there are deceased who have been buried in regions other than where they died.
Soylu said the dead included 4,235 Syrians who were living as refugees in Turkey fleeing the civil war in their country.
He also assured that the Government is fighting against disinformation and that the computer crime authorities and the Prosecutor's Office have acted against the administrators of 613 accounts on social networks, that 151 people have been arrested and 26 sent to prison.
Debris removal work continues and 332 tent settlements have been created housing 1.5 million earthquake victims.
In addition, the minister pointed out that more than two million people have left the affected areas in which they lived.
