earthquakes last week, the worst in modern history Turkeywere “as powerful as atomic bombs,” the president said Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

At last count, 35,418 people died. Erdogan said more than 2.2 million people have been displaced from the affected areas. He added that hundreds of thousands of homes in southern Turkey are currently uninhabitable and stated that “any country will face the challenges we faced in such a disaster.”

The Turkish President promised that the search would continue until the last person trapped under the rubble was found, noting that the work of rescue teams in these areas is improving day by day.

Erdogan also noted that the demolished buildings remind the government of the need to comply with strict building codes.

Two survivors were found after 208 hours.

In addition, a 65-year-old Syrian man and a minor girl were rescued from the ruins of a building in Hatay province on Tuesday, 208 hours after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the region.

The rescue has revived the hopes of rescue crews who race against time to find surviving family members among the ruins of a particular house.

To date, nine people have been pulled alive from the rubble, eight days after the deadly earthquake.

^{According to Reuters, APE-MEB}