Foreign Ministry: No Maldivians affected in deadly Turkey quake

No Maldivians residing in Turkey were affected in the devastating earthquake which left thousands dead in Turkey and Syria last Monday, according to the Maldivian Foreign Ministry.

In a press statement Thursday, Foreign Ministry said they were keeping a close eye on the condition of Maldivians residing in Turkey in the wake of the earth quake.

Foreign Ministry said they had called and checked the status of Maldivians residing in Turkey registered with the Foreign Ministry and the Permanent Missing of the Maldives to the United Nations in Geneva.

There are 14 Maldivians registered to be residing in Turkey, none of whom were affected in the earthquake, said the Foreign Ministry.

Foreign Ministry said they are closely monitoring the situation in Turkey.

Maldivians in Turkey in need of assistance have been asked to call the Foreign Ministry’s hotline 7983400.

Meanwhile, unregistered Maldivians have been advised to register as soon as possible.

The 7.8 magnitude earth quake struck 23 kilometers east of Nurdagi, in Turkey’s Gaziantep province, at a depth of 24.1 kilometers on Monday.

A series of aftershocks reverberated through the region in the immediate hours after the initial incident. A magnitude 6.7 aftershock followed 11 minutes after the first earthquake hit, but the largest temblor, which measured 7.5 in magnitude, struck about nine hours later. More than 125 aftershocks have been recorded so far.

The combined death toll from Monday’s earthquakes has risen to 17,176 after the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said the tally in Turkey had climbed to 14,014. A total of 3,162 have been reported dead by Syrian government officials and a rescue group in the rebel-held northwest of the country.