Turkey and Syria earthquake: More than 1,500 dead as a result of a strong earthquake hit the region

Istanbul, Turkey CNN –

More than 1,500 people have died and rescuers are racing to pull survivors from the rubble after a devastating earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, leaving destruction and debris on both sides of the border.

One of the most powerful earthquakes to hit the region in a century shook residents from their beds around 4 a.m. Monday, sending tremors as far away as Lebanon and Israel.

In Turkey, at least 1,014 people have died and several thousand have been injured, according to the country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD). In Syria, at least 592 people have died, including 371, mostly in the regions of Aleppo, Hama, Latakia and Tartous, according to the official Syrian news agency SANA, which also reported 1,089 injuries.

The White Helmets, officially known as the Syrian Civil Defence, also reported at least 221 deaths and 419 injuries in opposition-held areas of northwest Syria. Anti-government forces control much of northwestern Syria, which borders Turkey, amid a bloody civil war that began in 2011.

The US Geological Survey said that the epicenter of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake was 23 km east of Nordagai in the Turkish province of Gaziantep, at a depth of 24.1 km.

About nine hours later, a 7.5-magnitude aftershock hit Turkey, according to the USGS. The tremor struck about 95 kilometers north of the original quake.

Video from the scene in Turkey showed a day breaking over rows of collapsed buildings, some with apartments exposed to the elements as people huddled in the freezing cold next to them, waiting for help.

Monday’s quake is believed to be the most powerful to hit Turkey since 1939, when a quake of the same magnitude killed 30,000 people, according to the US Geological Survey. Earthquakes of this magnitude are rare, with fewer than five earthquakes occurring each year anywhere in the world. Turkey has been hit by seven earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater in the past 25 years – but Monday is the strongest.

Carl Lang, an assistant professor in the College of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech, told CNN that the area hit by Monday’s quake is prone to seismic activity. “It’s a very large fault zone, but this is a larger earthquake than at any time in recent memory,” Lang said.

“It felt like it would never end,” said journalist Iyad Kordi, who lives in Gaziantep and was staying with his parents when the earthquake hit early Monday.

When the shaking stopped, he said, Cordy and his parents walked out of their house, still in their pajamas.

With several inches of snow on the ground, they waited outside in the rain for 30 minutes before he could go back inside to grab coats and boots.

Southern and central Turkey felt strong aftershocks. About 11 minutes after the main quake struck, a magnitude 6.7 aftershock struck about 32 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of the main epicenter. Another strong aftershock of magnitude 5.6 occurred 19 minutes after the main earthquake.

Kurdi said as many as eight “very strong” aftershocks occurred in less than a minute after the 7.8-magnitude quake, causing his home property to fall to the ground. He said many of his neighbors left their homes after the quake.

Pictures showing the true scale of the disaster appeared at dawn today in Turkey. Entire buildings were flattened, and metal bars littered the streets. Cars were overturned as bulldozers cleared the rubble. Gaziantep Castle was severely damaged.

A winter storm in the area is compounding the disaster, according to CNN meteorologists.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by this. it’s cold. it is raining. Roads can be affected, and that means your food, your livelihood, the care of your children, the care of your family, said Karen Magennis, a CNN meteorologist.

“Anything related to crops or anything growing around this area will also be affected. The repercussions of this are widespread and will affect this area for weeks and months.”

Watch the place of rescue after the deadly earthquake in Turkey

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that search and rescue teams have been sent to the south of the country. The Disaster and Emergency Management Agency said it had requested international assistance through the Emergency Response Coordination Center (ERCC), the European Union’s humanitarian programme.

Nearly 1,000 search and rescue volunteers have been deployed from Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, along with dogs, trucks and aid, according to its governor, Ali Yerlikaya.

The World Health Organization has activated its network of emergency medical teams in the two countries to help those affected by the earthquake, the organization’s director-general tweeted. Erdogan also said in his televised address that NATO, the European Union and dozens of other countries have offered help.

“Our city strongly felt the earthquake,” Gaziantep’s governor, Davut Gül, said on Twitter, advising the public to wait outside their homes and remain calm.

“Please let’s wait outside without panicking. Let’s not use our cars. Let’s not overcrowd the main roads. Let’s not keep the phones on,” he said.

Gaziantep province has a number of small and medium-sized cities, with large refugee populations, according to Brookings Institution fellow Asli Aydintasbas.

Some of these areas are rather poor. Some of them are urban areas that are richer…but the other parts we’re talking about that seem to have been devastated, she said, are relatively low-income areas.

Video from the city of Diyarbakir, to the northeast of Gaziantep, shows rescue workers frantically trying to pull survivors from the rubble.

Erdogan said the earthquake was felt in many parts of the country.

I express my best wishes to all our compatriots who were affected by the earthquake that occurred in Kahramanmaraş and was felt in many parts of our country. “All our relevant units are on alert with the coordination of the Disaster and Emergency Management Department,” Erdogan wrote on Twitter.

Messages of condolence and support began pouring in Monday morning as world leaders woke up to the news of the deadly quake.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States was “very concerned” about the devastation in Syria and Turkey.

“I have been in contact with Turkish officials to advise that we stand ready to provide any and all assistance needed. We will continue to monitor the situation closely in coordination with Turkey,” Sullivan wrote on Twitter.

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