Turkish police and military forces are present in almost all the streets and avenues of Kahramanmaras affected by Monday’s earthquake, sometimes in greater numbers than the search and rescue teams.
His presence is constant, whether it’s monitoring areas where searches are ongoing or simply walking the streets and avenues of this southeastern Turkish city, one of the hardest hit by Monday’s earthquake.
On the spot, the Lusa agency found the police, the gendarme (a variation of the Turkish GNR) and the armed forces, always with weapons.
The policeman Lusa spoke to said he arrived from Ankara on Saturday.
He is not aware of the situation on the ground and does not know if there were any crimes after the earthquake.
“We came to beef up security,” he says dryly, making no further statement.
In Kahramanmaras, the Lusa agency overheard some residents talking about looting of houses whose residents had fled, as well as looting of shops and businesses.
Some decide to take a chance and enter their houses, even if they are damaged, to try to take some things, given the rumors.
While the police presence seems to outnumber rescuers, the city appears to be shifting its focus to search operations.
On the seventh day, more heavy vehicles appear on the wreckage trying to clear the wreckage, and there are more body vans with a green symbol than ambulances.
Basically, these vans now stop near the rubble, where few people believe in miracles.
At least 33,179 people have died in the massive earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria on Monday, according to official figures released this Sunday.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake in southern Turkey has killed 29,605 people, the country’s relief organization Afad said, while authorities counted another 3,574 deaths in Syria.
Updated figures also show that 92,600 people were affected by this natural disaster.
The two countries were hit early on Monday by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake followed by several aftershocks, one of which was 7.5 magnitude.