President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday visited Gaziantep, one of the provinces hit by the deadly earthquakes in Türkiye's south. Erdoğan updated the death toll to 14,014 and told reporters another 63,794 people were injured in the disaster, though the number rose right after he announced the figures, to 14,351. Hours later in the province of Osmaniye, he announced the new death toll as 16,170 and number of the injured as 64,194.

The president said the state of emergency he earlier announced will be in force as of Thursday in the 10 provinces struck by the earthquake, while he promised that the reconstruction in the region would be completed within one year.

Erdoğan, who initially coordinated the response to the disaster from a coordination center in the capital Ankara, visited Kahramanmaraş, the worst-hit province, on Wednesday and from there, headed to Hatay and Adana. He met survivors and consoled them before observing search and rescue efforts. In Gaziantep, he visited a cluster of tents set up for survivors.

The president said 6,444 buildings were destroyed by tremors and in Gaziantep alone and 944 buildings had collapsed. "About 1,415 people died here and 10,395 others were injured (in Gaziantep)," he said, extending his condolences to the city, one of the major industrial hubs in the region, which also draws a large number of tourists every year.

"The state of emergency will be in effect following today's vote in Parliament," he said while inspecting search and rescue efforts. To speed up rescue and recovery operations, Türkiye on Tuesday announced the three-month state of emergency in the quake-hit provinces.

Erdoğan said the state of emergency will prevent moneylenders and seditious groups from exploiting the aftermath of the quake disaster. "Our state has been in the field with all its institutions starting from the moment of the earthquakes," he added.

He announced that containers from abroad will be used to help the victims. The containers he referred to are used as housing units. He said apartment buildings with four floors at most will be built for survivors. Like in other earthquake-hit cities, TL 10,000 ($530) of emergency relief will be distributed to each household, Erdoğan said.

"Just as we recovered from earthquakes in Bingöl, Malatya, Elazığ and Izmir (provinces in eastern, southeastern and western Türkiye hit by devastating earthquakes in recent years) and just as we quickly rebuilt homes, we will recover from this and will complete the reconstruction in a short time," he added.

The president is scheduled to visit Osmaniye and Kilis, other earthquake-hit provinces, on Thursday.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in the Kahramanmaraş province, were felt by 13 million people across 10 provinces. "The earthquake affected an area of ​​approximately 110,000 square kilometers (about 42,470 sq miles). This is equal to or greater than the area of ​​many countries in Europe. This earthquake is the third-largest to occur since the 1668 Great Anatolia earthquake and the 1939 Erzincan earthquake in the last 2,000 years on the Anatolian geography," Vice President Fuat Oktay told the country's Parliament as state of emergency measures were being discussed. More than 113,200 search and rescue personnel are currently working in the field, according to the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD). A total of 28,044 people were evacuated from quake-hit regions, AFAD said in a statement. At least 28,044 citizens were evacuated from the disaster area, 4,607 by road and railway and 23,437 by air, AFAD said. Evacuees are being placed in accommodation areas and guesthouses designated by provincial governors' offices and AFAD, it added.