Turkey’s president admits earthquake rescue was ‘slow’

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoganadmitted for the first time on Friday that the government’s rescue efforts after this week’s devastating earthquake were less rapid than expected.

Erdogan faces cCritics from survivors that insufficient numbers of rescuers are deployed and little humanitarian aid after the biggest disaster the country has faced in nearly a century.

The death toll of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake Monday already exceeds 22,000 deaths, adding the victims in southeastern Turkey and Syria.

“Since the earthquake I haven’t eaten food, how can I if my 7 children are hungry and are underground?”: The drama of a Syrian mother who prays while waiting for rescue efforts

Of the total number of victims, almost 19,000 died in Turkey.

Erdogan admitted during the week that there were some “deficiencies” in the government’s response, but admitted more directly on Friday that his team could have reacted more quickly.

“There were so many damaged buildings that unfortunately we were unable to speed up our interventions as we would have liked,” Erdogan said during a visit to the hard-hit Adiyaman town.

However, the president also responded to critics, referring to the crucial general elections on May 14.

Erdogan denounced the “opportunists who want to turn pain into political gains”. (YO)