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Turkey calls on past experience to deal with 7.2 quake
A victims' relative cries as rescue workers take part in an operation to salvage people from a collapsed building following an earthquake in the province of Van, eastern Turkey, on October 24, 2011. Rescuers scrambled through the rubble on October 24 in a desperate search for survivors of the earthquake.
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Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images
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Turkish officials say the nation, still recovering from Sunday's 7.2 magnitude earthquake, learned how to respond to the disaster from past tremors.
Arif Celik, the vice consul at the Consulate General of Turkey in Los Angeles, said Monday that the nation made a real push for earthquake preparedness after two major temblors killed more than 17,000 people 12 years ago.
"We learned lessons about that," Celik explained, "about the earthquakes, such disasters, from our past experiences, and now our authorities are handling better these types of situations-- crisis situations."
Celik said the consulate has received numerous e-mails and phone calls from people who want to know where to send money for earthquake relief efforts, and is posting how to contribute on the consulate’s web site.
Currently approximately 300 people are confirmed dead from Sunday's disaster.
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