The power of the earthquakes that devastated Turkiye earlier this week equaled that of several hundred nuclear bombs, said Orhan Tatar, General Director of Earthquake Risk Reduction at the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).
Speaking with reporters on Saturday, Tatar admitted that the magnitude of the disaster had exceeded his and his colleagues' expectations.
With the first earthquake lasting some 65 seconds and the second earthquake lasting 45 seconds, the energy released by the two tremors equaled that of 500 nuclear bombs, he stressed.
The magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit Turkiye on Monday morning, and was followed by another magnitude 7.6 quake later that day.
The tremors, which were accompanied by several aftershocks, resulted in over 20,000 deaths in the country and caused the destruction of numerous buildings.
The quakes also affected neighboring Syria, where about 300,000 people were left homeless as their dwellings were levelled by the seismic events.