Turkey

VAKIFLI, Turkey, Feb 25 (Reuters) - In Turkey's only remaining ethnic Armenian village, Vakifli, the elderly population thank God that not one of them died during the devastating earthquakes that struck the region. But they fear for the future of their cherished home.

Thirty of the village's 40 stone houses, which are single or double storey and surrounded by orange and lemon orchards, are heavily damaged, and since a third huge earthquake hit, the 130 villagers are without power. They gather at the tea house for shelter and warmth.

23 Feb 2023; MEMO: Authorities have completed 80 per cent of damage assessment in the earthquake zone in southern Turkiye after the powerful 6 February tremors, the country's Environment Minister said on Thursday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"The rest will be completed quickly in the coming days," Murat Kurum, Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change Minister, told Anadolu's Editors' Desk in the quake-hit Adiyaman province.

ISTANBUL, Feb 23 (APP):  After conducting 17-day search and rescue operation in Adiyaman, the Pakistan Search and Rescue team left for the country here on Thursday night.

Through relentless efforts, the team managed to rescue multiple precious lives.

ANTAKYA, Turkey, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Turkey has stepped up plans to house victims of the devastating earthquake which struck its border region with Syria, the interior minister said, as the combined death toll in the two countries crept towards 50,000.

Suleyman Soylu said 313,000 tents had been erected, with 100,000 container homes to be installed in the disaster zone which stretches for hundreds of kilometres inland from the Turkish and Syrian Mediterranean coast.

22 Feb 2023; MEMO: In Hatay, Turkiye's southernmost province hit hard by the recent quakes, two generous brothers open the doors of their mansion to host quake victims and teams who work for their relief, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Salih Guzel and Emirhan Guzel mobilised all their means to turn their mansion, where their mother also lives, into a soup kitchen to serve people affected by the massive tremors with warm meal prepared by volunteer cooks.

22 Feb 2023; MEMO: Trucks, emergency vehicles and excavators lined the desolate streets of Turkiye's Antakya, Tuesday night, after the third major earthquake in two weeks accelerated an exodus from the once-lively city, Reuters reports.

In the pitch-black streets, passing headlights revealed mounds of rubble, frames of broken windows and entangled rebar. Red and blue flashing lights from military and police vehicles reflected off the jagged facades of slanted buildings.

ANKARA, Feb 22 (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan's government is inclined to hold Turkey's elections as scheduled in June, having cooled on the idea of postponing due to this month's devastating earthquake, three officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

Last month Erdogan, aiming to extend his rule into a third decade, said he was bringing the presidential and parliamentary votes forward to May to avoid holidays in June. Polls suggest they would be present his biggest electoral challenge yet.

21 Feb 2023; MEMO: Turkiye will start the construction of houses in quake-hit areas in March, the country's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said in the wake of two major earthquakes that jolted southern Turkiye on 6 February, Anadolu News Agency reports.

22 Feb 2023; MEMO: A Turkish newspaper has estimated that the reconstruction cost covering the ten provinces devastated by the recent earthquakes will be $45 billion. According to ekonomim, hundreds of thousands of residential and commercial buildings will have to be demolished and infrastructure such as roads and water, electricity and sewage networks will have to be repaired or replaced.

21 Feb 2023; MEMO: Havva Tuncay was living in a tent set up in the centre of the Turkish city of Antakya, when another earthquake hit on Monday night. She had been having trouble sleeping after the first shocks left Havva and her children homeless two weeks ago, Reuters reports.

"I cannot sleep at night. Is the same thing going to happen, are we going to experience another earthquake? We are very scared. I haven't slept for a week," she told Reuters outside her tent.