On Monday, the Turkish government rejected an offer from US billionaire Elon Musk to provide satellite Internet communications in the country after the strong earthquake that hit it.
A report by Bloomberg said that Musk said via Twitter that one of his companies, Space Exploration Technologies, can provide the Starlink network once approved by the Turkish government.
Turkish response
An unnamed senior Turkish official thanked Musk, according to Bloomberg, adding that Turkey has sufficient internet capabilities and battery-powered stations even if electricity does not reach some areas.
It should be noted that SpaceX is scheduled to launch the first Turkish communications satellite, Turksat 6A, into orbit in the first quarter of this year.
In a new toll, the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority announced that more than 7,000 people were rescued from under the rubble as a result of the devastating earthquake that struck the country, on Monday.
The administration said that the death toll from the massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey had risen to 2,921.
In a previous statement by Turkish Vice President Fuad Oktay, there are 52,000 afflicted people who have been distributed to shelters.
And according to the “Anatolia” agency quoted Oktay, 102 mobile broadcasting stations for mobile phones have been sent and operated to the earthquake-affected areas.
Oktay stated that the earthquake affected large areas in Turkey and abroad, indicating that the specialized teams began search and rescue work from the first moments.
In addition to the human losses, more than a thousand buildings have completely collapsed, according to Aktay.
It is the country’s deadliest quake since another of similar magnitude in 1999 devastated the densely populated eastern Marmara Sea region near Istanbul, killing more than 17,000 people.