Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked his country for forgiveness on Monday amid delays in the delivery of emergency aid, three weeks after parts of the south were rocked by a powerful earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people.

The scale of the destruction, combined with adverse weather conditions and damage to infrastructure, made it impossible to work with the “desired effectiveness” in the initial days after the quake, Erdogan said, asking for people to forgive him in comments in Adiyaman in the quake-affected region.

He also asked for “one year” to heal “most of the wounds of the earthquake.”

“Like any mortal, we can have faults, shortcomings and flaws,” Erdogan said.

There has been growing criticism of the government’s handling of the crisis since February 6, when a 7.7-magnitude quake, a 7.6-magnitude quake and many aftershocks shook south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria. At least 50,000 people died.

People in many places complained that rescue teams had arrived in the crisis region too late, with too few helpers and not enough equipment.

That made it harder to free people who were trapped beneath the rubble of fallen buildings.

Temperatures fell to below zero in many of the quake-hit areas, meaning those who could not be freed froze to death.

Erdogan nevertheless also warned that people should not listen to the “fools” who had attacked state crisis services.

His comments come months before Turkey is scheduled to hold elections.

Before the quake, Erdogan had said he would hold an early vote on May 14, though it is unclear whether that plan is still valid.

Earlier on Monday, a 5.5-earthquake hit the Turkish province of Malatya, with the epicentre in the town of Yesilyurt, according to the Kandilli earthquake observatory.

There were no initial reports of casualties or damaged buildings.

Malatya province was among those badly damaged by the initial February 6 quake and Mayor Selahattin Grkan told Habertrk radio that some 2,300 people had died in Malatya.

Overall, some 20 million people in Turkey have been affected by the disaster, while the UN estimates that 8.8 million people have been affected in Syria.

The quakes also caused at least $34.2 billion in property damage, according to an estimate by the World Bank - the equivalent of 4% of Turkey’s gross domestic product in 2021.

Reconstruction costs could potentially be more than double that. That would also depend on the extent to which new building codes were applied, a report released on Monday said.

The report also noted that the regions hit by the disaster have the highest poverty rate in Turkey and are also home to more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees.

The World Bank estimates that 1.25 million people have been left temporarily homeless due to damage to their homes or complete building collapse.

The report did not take into account the economic impact and losses to the Turkish economy and the arguably much higher costs of reconstruction. Assessments have yet to be completed due to the ongoing aftershocks.

The World Bank is planning to present a report on the damage in Syria on Tuesday.