Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday compared the effects of the two earthquakes that struck Turkey last week to those of “atomic bombs,” announcing the current death toll at 35,418. He also realized that any other country in the world would face the same difficulties as Turkey after such a disaster.

More than 2.2 million people have left the areas affected by the earthquakes, Erdogan said, according to which the conditions in which rescue operations are carried out in these regions are improving every day, Agerpres reported with reference to Reuters and Boursorama.

Rescue teams managed to pull out eight people who miraculously survived the rubble on Tuesday, and aid workers are scrambling to help survivors left homeless in the wintry conditions.

Among the eight rescued people are two brothers, 17 and 21 years old, who were trapped under the rubble of a building in the province of Kahramanmaras, and a woman in the city of Hatay, Turkish media reported.

A 65-year-old Syrian man and a 15-year-old Syrian girl were found alive under the rubble in Antakya.

Rescue teams worked through the night to find survivors, but some began scaling back their operations as freezing temperatures reduced the chances of survival. Polish rescuers, who are part of many international teams that have arrived in the country by plane, announced that they would leave on Wednesday.

According to the Turkish Confederation of Enterprises and Businesses, the disaster could cost Turkey about 84 billion dollars. For his part, Turkey’s Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum estimated that about 42,000 buildings in ten cities were either destroyed, in need of demolition, or severely damaged.

Dozens of residents and rescue workers expressed their dismay at the lack of water, food, medicine, body bags and taps in the first days after the quake, and many criticized the slow pace and centralized response of Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD). ).

“People died not because of the earthquake, but because of precautions that were not taken in time,” said Said Qudsi, who traveled to Kahramanmaras from Istanbul to bury his uncle, aunt and their two sons, while their two daughters are still missing.

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