The Turkish authorities has blasted one other horde of allegations concerning humanitarian help and restoration efforts in Türkiye’s southeast, devastated by large earthquakes on Feb. 6.
In a weekly bulletin compiled to combat disinformation in each visible and social media, the Presidency’s Directorate of Communications hit again towards varied claims, together with falsehoods concerning the official dying toll, Syrian victims, rescue efforts of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), donations and even about “an impending Istanbul earthquake.”
The bulletins come on the heels of Turkish officers additionally denying numerous different experiences as disinformation campaigns designed to “incite chaos” within the catastrophe zone the place hundreds of rescue crews and volunteers, each native and worldwide, have been working to save lots of survivors and supply assist to the victims now left with out properties.
‘Unidentified bodies’
A outstanding declare by media retailers has been that “official data does not include unidentified bodies” within the quake-stricken area.
The directorate refuted the accusation, saying, “all of our citizens who lost their lives in the earthquake, whether identified or not, are included in the number of deaths.”
“These numbers include individuals who showed no signs of life or died in hospital after being rescued from the wreckage,” it added.
‘Syrian thief’
Following the tremors, Syrian refugees in Türkiye, who had been additionally hit by the catastrophe, have been focused by xenophobes with claims that the asylum-seekers had been prioritized in delivering humanitarian help or that a few of them had been looting properties and outlets within the area.
In addition to refuting such claims, the directorate additionally quashed an accusation by an opposition politician {that a} Syrian individual “stole a firefighter’s mobile phone,” in accordance with an incident unfolding on the display’s nook. At the identical time, Vice President Fuat Oktay delivers a dwell assertion.
“Police investigation confirmed the person in the footage was not Syrian and the red phone he allegedly ‘stole’ belonged to him,” the directorate mentioned, noting that the individual topic to slander would sue his slanderer for compensation and donate the cash to quake survivors.
‘Ahbap Platform’
The directorate dismissed claims sure politicians and media retailers raised that “the Ahbap Platform’s efforts are hampered.”
The directorate knowledgeable that the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) continues coordinating the efforts of all help businesses, rescue groups and volunteers within the catastrophe zone, stressing that Ahbap Chair Haluk Levent himself expressed the platform “has always received support from all state officials.”
‘Istanbul’s subsequent’
In the wake of the 7.7 and seven.6 magnitude tremors that left greater than 42,000 individuals lifeless in Türkiye’s 11 provinces, many social media customers, citing unidentified “German reports,” alleged that one other earthquake would this time strike Türkiye’s prime metropolis Istanbul “very soon” and that “the change in the water levels of the Marmara Sea is a harbinger” of it.
“The change in the water level is not because of a tectonic earthquake but a meteorological event caused by the pressure difference,” the directorate defined.
‘State aid seized’
On prime of declarations that the “Central Bank’s future expenditures are exempt from audit by the Court of Accounts due to its donations to AFAD,” which was presently debunked, the directorate additionally shut down claims that “tax offices have seized TL 10,000 state aid provided to disaster victims.”
“Tax offices have not carried out any confiscation for collecting public receivables since the earthquake,” it knowledgeable.
“Furthermore, all enforcement proceedings, including those carried out by tax offices, have been suspended by Presidential Decree No. 120, dated Feb. 8, 2023. Because no confiscation was made after the earthquake, even if there was a seizure on the account previously, this seizure has no bearing on the state’s earthquake aid of TL 10,000.”
‘Delayed military response’
The directorate lately addressed the declare that “the military was absent in the immediate relief efforts following the earthquake. As a result, the deployment order was issued too late.”
“Immediately after the earthquake occurred on Feb. 6, at 4:17 a.m., the National Defense Ministry requested reports from the General Staff, Land, Air, and Naval Forces Commands at 4.30 a.m., and ordered the TAF Humanitarian Relief Brigade to ‘be ready.’ At 6 a.m., the units of the 2nd Army Command started the search and rescue efforts in the earthquake zone,” it mentioned.
At least 42,310 individuals had been killed, and greater than 108,000 had been injured within the catastrophe. The tremors centered in Kahramanmaraş province impacted over 13 million individuals throughout 10 different areas, together with Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Şanlıurfa and Elazığ.
Neighboring Syria, too, took essentially the most important harm after Türkiye, reporting over 5,800 casualties and at the least 14,000 accidents.
Separately, a brand new earthquake that jolted Hatay late Monday left at the least six lifeless and 562 others wounded in Türkiye and over 470 injured in Syria.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
