Rescue workers and volunteers are searching for survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building in Şanlıurfa, Turkey (photo: AFP). The severe earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday has reportedly claimed over 5,000 lives. On Tuesday morning, Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay announced that 3,419 people had been killed in the quake, with another 20,534 injured. The death toll on the Syrian side rose to 1,602, bringing the combined total to 5,021. Turkey’s disaster management agency reported 11,342 incidents of collapsed buildings, of which 5,775 have been confirmed. The World Health Organization warned that casualties could exceed 20,000 as the full extent of the devastation from the 7.8‑magnitude earthquake continues to unfold.
Emre Magboh, President of the Nigerian Community in Turkey, said that most Nigerians do not reside in the earthquake‑affected areas. He noted that the community has not yet received any details of Nigerian fatalities. “Nigerians rarely live in the regions that have been hit,” Magboh told The … “When someone moves to Turkey, they are likely to live in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, or at most Kano. They are unlikely to go to those interior states. The areas experiencing earthquakes are usually inhabited by locals. Nigerians, and Africans generally, are more domiciled in Istanbul, Ankara, Konya, and Northern Cyprus.”
Magboh added that some Nigerians in Turkey have shared close‑shave experiences from the quake, but such cases are rare. “Some of the people caught up had likely gone there for specific reasons or visited a friend, but it is rare for Africans to live in places like Diyarbakır, South‑East Turkey,” he said. He expressed fear that the earthquake could spread to other parts of the country.
Regarding the Nigerian population in Turkey, Magboh estimated that over 15,000 Nigerians reside there. He said information on casualties remains sketchy, as none of the community’s members have reported missing persons yet. “We will have a clearer picture and provide a concise report before the end of the day,” he promised.
Earlier, Dutch researcher Frank Hoogerbeets had predicted an earthquake in the region. On Friday, he tweeted, “Sooner or later, there will be a ~M 7.5 earthquake in this region (South‑Central Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon).”
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