At least 1,600 people have been reported dead in a major earthquake of magnitude 7.8 injuring thousands in southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria as buildings collapsed across the region, triggering searches for survivors in the rubble.
The initial earthquake hit near the Turkish city of Gaziantep at 4:17am local time (01:17 GMT) on Monday, as people were sleeping, at a depth of about 17.9km (11 miles). It was also felt as far as Cyprus, Egypt and Lebanon.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the death toll in the country has risen to 1,014.
Authorities have declared a “level 4 alarm” that calls for international assistance. A second earthquake of magnitude 7.6 followed a few hours later amid several aftershocks, the country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said, adding that the epicenter of the quake was Elbistan region of Kahramanmaras province.
According to the president’s earlier statement, search and rescue teams were immediately sent to the earthquake-affected areas.
The Turkish defense ministry stated that the armed forces of the nation have set up an air corridor to help medical and rescue teams get to the earthquake-affected areas.
“Our priority is to bring out people trapped under ruined buildings and to transfer them to hospitals,” he said.
Dozens of aftershocks were recorded following the quake with officials urging people not to enter damaged buildings due to the risks.
In a statement carried by the state-run Anadolu Agency, AFAD listed the affected regions so far as Kahramanmaras, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Adiyaman, Malatya, Osmaniye, Hatay and Kilis. Thousands more have been affected across the border in the Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, and Latakia.
Photo credit: Reuters
Video of the incident circulating on social media showed harrowing images of buildings reduced to rubble in several cities in Turkey’s southeast.
TRT and Haberturk broadcasted images of people gathered around destroyed buildings in Kahramanmaras, looking for survivors.
Other images showed people taking refuge in their cars along snow-covered roads.
Source: Aljazeera News