Turkey-based group: Most Nigerians not resident in earthquake areas

Following the severe earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria on Monday and has reportedly claimed over 5,000 lives, the President of the Nigerian Community in Turkey, Embre Magboh, has said that most Nigerians are not residents of the earthquake areas.

On Tuesday morning, Turkey’s vice president, Fuat Oktay, said 3,419 people had been killed in the quake, with another 20,534 injured. The number of confirmed deaths on the Syrian side of the border rose to 1,602, bringing the death toll in both countries to 5,021.

Turkey’s disaster management agency said it had 11,342 reports of collapsed buildings, of which 5,775 had been confirmed.

The World Health Organisation also warned that casualties could exceed 20,000 as the scale of devastation from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake continued to unfold.
He also noted that the community had yet to get details of any Nigerian’s death so far in the earthquake.

Magboh told The PUNCH that the areas experiencing the earthquake were not areas where Nigerians are usually domiciled.

He, however, added that they were currently living in fear as the earthquake could spread across to other parts of the country. Punch