Ankara (EFE) of corpses and the lack of hygienic measures.
The tremors have brought down thousands of buildings, under which tens of thousands of bodies may still be trapped, several Turkish and international experts have warned, and another 50,000 have been badly damaged and will have to be demolished.
Meanwhile, a 17-year-old girl was rescued alive today after spending 248 hours trapped in the rubble of a building in the province of Kahramanmaras, where the epicenter of the first earthquake was recorded.
The region affected by the earthquakes, of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6, extends over 100,000 square kilometers and some 14 million people live there.
According to Afad, more than 216,000 people have been evacuated from the provinces most affected by the earthquakes.
Coskun Aral, a reporter and war photographer who has been in the disaster zone, has assured EFE that there are tens of thousands of corpses under the rubble and that some will remain there for a long time.
“I have been to many war zones and disasters, but I have never seen anything like this,” said Coskun, who warned that cholera outbreaks could happen if strong action is not taken now.
“There is already scabies, people have not been able to wash since the first day,” he warned.
Deniz Yavuzyilmaz, a deputy from the main opposition Social Democratic party CHP, has assured that there is a risk of an epidemic because the corpses that remain in the rubble are beginning to decompose, and that the members of the rescue teams that remove the bodies cannot wash up or change clothes.
Alpay Azap, a specialist in infectious diseases, has indicated that there is still no epidemic in the area, but there is a risk of one, and that it is important that the bodies that are still in the rubble are buried properly.
He also mentioned the risk of transmission to humans of diseases from animals that died in the earthquake, as well as diarrhea due to problems in the drinking water supply.