Four-year-old Elif Mislina Eker died and two members of the same family who have been living in tents following devastating earthquakes in Turkey in February were injured in a tent fire in the southern Turkish province of Hatay, the Kronos news website reported.
According to local news reports, a fire broke out early on March 26 at a site where quake survivors are living in tents. Elif Mislina died in the blaze, while her 17-year-old sister and 18-year-old brother are still receiving treatment in the hospital.
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck near the Turkish city of Gaziantep – home to around 2 million people and on the border with Syria – as people were sleeping on February 6 was followed by dozens of aftershocks, including a 7.5-magnitude temblor that jolted the region in the middle of search and rescue efforts the same day.
The earthquake survivors are still facing problems almost two months after the disaster and have been living in tent camps in harsh winter conditions and facing serious health issues.
A total of 501,069 tents have been set up since the earthquakes, according to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) Chairman Yunus Sezer.
Torrential rains hit the region on March 14, and at least 19 people living in tents and container housing were killed by the floods in the quake region.
