
A month after a catastrophic 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey, torrential rain has killed at least 14, submerging two provinces in the process. Five people are missing while countless have been rendered homeless, yet again.
According to local media reports, 11 were killed in Sanliurfa, a town 50 km north of the Syrian border while two died in Adiyaman, including a one-year-old toddler.
Shocking video clips that have since gone viral on social media platforms show the helpless victims being dragged away by the current of the water. Cars and other vehicles could be seen floating as the streets turned to streams.
With hundreds of thousands of earthquake survivors living in tents and other temporary accommodations, the rain has come as a double whammy.
Turkish soldiers and rescue teams have been deployed to carry out evacuation operations. Using heavy-duty machines and boats, the teams are attempting to save people stuck in the cascading water.
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More than a dozen professional divers have also been pressed into the operation, according to the Turkish disaster management agency.
After the water subsides, the authorities are sweating over the prospect of a fresh bout of misery. Water-borne diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, malaria and dengue are some of the common diseases that occur post-flood.
Turkey and Syria were rocked by a powerful earthquake on February 6 which has already killed more than 52,000.
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Over 200,000 buildings were flattened across the landscape as thousands died in the dead of the night. The rescue and rehabilitation process has been going non-stop but given the scale of the destruction, it could take months before a clear picture of the final death toll emerges.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing an uphill battle ahead of a difficult re-election in May as public anger continues to simmer against him and his party. The general public is of the view that the government's response to the calamity has been slow and largely ineffective.
(With inputs from agencies)
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