The death toll from Turkey’s second major earthquake rose over the weekend as searchers continued to dig through the rubble of two hotels. Government officials said the death toll went from 33 to 40 Saturday afternoon. Two Turkish journalist and one Japanese aid volunteer are among the dead. Only 30 people have been found alive in the rubble since the 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck the city of Van last Wednesday.
The quake came less than three weeks after a 7.2 earthquake killed more than 600 people in the same region. Authorities say 25 building collapsed in the second quake, but only 3 of them were occupied. The other 22 had been empty since they were damaged in the October 23 earthquake.
Two of the collapsed buildings were hotels where many journalists covering the aftermath of the first quake were housed. Angry residents have accused government officials of negligence in their safety inspection of the hotels following the first earthquake. Many have also taken to the streets to protest the government’s slow response in providing shelter and aid to thousands of residents who have been living in the streets in snow and freezing temperatures since their homes suffered earthquake damage.
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