Erdoğan: We are facing one of the biggest disasters in our history

The history of Türkiye is challenged by one of the biggest disasters, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday over Monday's deadly quakes in the country's southern region.

"As a nation, we are facing one of the greatest disasters in our history," Erdoğan said while inspecting search and rescue efforts in the Adiyaman province, where he met quake victims.

He added that "serious" destructions occurred in 10 provinces.

"So many buildings were damaged that unfortunately, we were not able to speed up our interventions as quickly as we had desired," Erdoğan told the media outlets.

An overall 18,991 people have died in Türkiye alone, as a result of the earthquakes that also struck neighbouring Syria this week, Erdoğan said in a statement.

"More than 75,000 people have been rescued", he added.

Erdoğan has pledged to rebuild the quake-hit southern region as part of a one-year plan.

"We will ensure that our citizens who do not wish to stay in tents can move to residences and we will pay their rent for one year," he said.

Also, the president called on citizens not to give credit to those who abuse unity and solidarity at a time like this.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes affected more than 13 million people across 10 provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Şanliurfa.