State of emergency goes into effect in 10 quake-hit Turkish provinces

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decree declaring the state of emergency in ten earthquake-hit provinces of the country was published by the Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey (T.C. Resmi Gazete) and came into force at 1:00 a.m. local time (same as Moscow time) on Wednesday.

The affected provinces are Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Hatay and Sanliurfa.

The state of emergency will give broader powers to local authorities and law enforcement bodies.

Earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 hit the Kahramanmaras province in southeastern Turkey on Monday. The tremors, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, were felt in ten provinces, as well as in neighboring countries, including Syria.