Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: Thousands of people were killed by earthquakes felt in other parts of the Middle East | world News

More than 2,600 people died after a powerful earthquake struck Turkey and Syria.

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The epicenter of the earthquake, which measured 7.8 on the Richter scale, was in the town of Pazardzhik in Kahramanmaras province, about 20 miles from the city of Gaziantep, at a depth of six miles, and several strong aftershocks occurred.

With thousands injured, the death toll is expected to rise as rescue workers sift through the rubble.

Another magnitude 7.5 earthquake later struck central Turkey.

Another Earthquake Hits Central Turkey – Live Updates

On both sides of the border, residents were shaken from their sleep and rushed outside on a cold, rainy and snowy winter night as buildings around them fell and strong aftershocks continued.

“I have never felt anything like this in the 40 years I have lived,” said Erdem, a resident of Gaziantep. “We were rocked at least three times very vigorously, like a baby in a crib.”

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1:22 Inside during the devastating earthquake

The earthquake severely damaged Gaziantep’s most famous landmark, a historic castle perched on top of a hill in the city center. The pictures showed the collapse of parts of the walls of the forts and watch towers, and other parts were severely damaged.

The earthquake was followed by at least 20 aftershocks, the strongest of which was 6.6, according to Turkish authorities.

Image: A rescuer carries an injured child away from the rubble of a building in Syria. Pic: Associated Press Image: Rescuers carry a girl from a collapsed building in Diyarbakir, Turkey Photo: People search through the rubble in Diyarbakir, Turkey

Rescue workers and residents worked through tangles of metal and giant piles of debris in their search for survivors.

And the Turkish RTR channel showed that rescue workers in the Ottoman province were using a blanket to transport an injured man from a collapsed four-storey building, and he was the fifth to be pulled out from under the rubble, she said.

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0:51 A drone shows earthquake damage in Turkey

Level 4 Alert has been raised.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was not clear how high the number of dead and injured could rise.

“Because rubble removal efforts are continuing in many buildings in the earthquake zone, we do not know how high the number of dead and injured is,” Erdogan said.

“We hope to leave these disastrous days behind us in unity and solidarity as a country and a nation.”

He said 2,818 buildings collapsed after the first tremor, calling it the country’s “biggest disaster” since 1939, when a major earthquake struck the eastern province of Erzincan.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay declared a “level four alert” calling for international assistance.

Image: Rescue workers remove a person from a collapsed building in Malatya, Turkey Image: Several fault lines run through Turkey and Syria

“We’re under a lot of pressure” as the teams work in the rain and snow

In Syria, which has already been devastated by more than 11 years of civil war, many buildings have collapsed in the provinces of Hama, Aleppo, Latakia, and the central city of Hama.

State television showed footage of rescue teams searching for survivors in heavy rain and frost.

Image: People search among the rubble in Adana, Turkey. Pic: Ikhlas News Agency/Reuters Image: Rescuers search for survivors at the site of a building collapse following an earthquake in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Pic: Sana/Reuters

And in northwest Syria, the opposition Syrian Civil Defense described the situation in the rebel-held area as “catastrophic,” adding that entire buildings have collapsed and people are trapped under the rubble.

Photo: Rescue workers and medical teams in Diyarbakir. Pic: AP Image: People and rescue teams try to reach residents trapped inside collapsed buildings in Adana, Turkey. Pic: AP Image: Civil defense workers and residents search through the rubble of collapsed buildings in the town of Harem, near the Turkish border, in the Syrian province of Idlib. Pic: AP

I felt tremors as far away as Egypt

In Beirut and Damascus, there were reports of buildings shaking and people gathering in the streets in fear.

There have been no reports of deaths or serious damage so far in Egypt, Lebanon or Cyprus, where people felt the quake.

The timing of the earthquake is why the death toll has risen so rapidly – and why it will be difficult to get aid into Syria

The images coming from southern Turkey and northwest Syria are bleak.

The earthquake occurred before dawn, when most people were asleep.

This factor likely added to the rapidly growing death toll, as well as severe aftershocks.

The coming hours will be crucial as rescue workers race against time to locate survivors. Turkey has already declared a state of emergency and aid is being pledged from around the world.

The situation in northern Syria is of particular concern. The region has already endured 12 years of civil war that left many buildings damaged and vulnerable, and there are hundreds of thousands of refugees who have been displaced by the fighting.

Providing assistance to this contested part of Syria will be a challenge in itself.

There is a major aid hub nearby in Dubai, where warehouses are stocked with medical and humanitarian supplies ready to fly if access to Turkey and Syria can be negotiated.

Turkey, which sits on a fault line, has a history of earthquakes and so will have some experience already on the ground, but this already looks like a major disaster that will need all available international assistance.

UK ‘ready to help’

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the UK “stands ready to help in any way we can”.

He tweeted: “My thoughts are with the people of Turkey and Syria this morning, and especially with those first responders who are working so valiantly to save those trapped by the earthquake.”

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly tweeted: “Tragic loss of life in the Turkey and Syria earthquake.

“Our condolences go out to the families of those who died and our hearts go out to the survivors.

The UK stands ready to help.

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1:20 Rescue from a partially collapsed tower

Dozens of governments and international organizations have responded with offers of support.

The European Union said more than 10 search and rescue teams have been mobilized along with emergency satellite mapping to support first responders on the ground.

Germany said it could provide the camps with emergency shelters and water treatment units and was already preparing relief supplies with emergency generators, tents and blankets.

Israel said it would help Syria, the first time it had sent troops to operate publicly and officially in the country, as well as sending aid to Turkey.

Poland said it would send a rescue party of 76 firefighters and eight rescue dogs, while India said two teams of its 100-strong National Disaster Response Force with specially trained canine teams and equipment were ready to be airlifted to the disaster area.

Read more: Pictures show devastation caused by 7.8-magnitude earthquake Why is the death toll so high, and will it be difficult to get aid to the right places?

Turkey’s deadly history of earthquakes

Turkey and the surrounding region have suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years, claiming thousands of lives.

More than 1,300 people died in the earthquake, which struck in the early hours of this morning. I also felt dozens of aftershocks.

It had a magnitude of 7.8, which is the strongest earthquake in Turkey since the Erzincan earthquake in December 1939, which killed about 32,000 people.

The area is located on the Anatolian Plate, which borders two major faults – the North Anatolian Rift is located west to east in Turkey, while the East Anatolian Rift is located in the country’s southeastern region.

Some of the deadliest earthquakes have occurred in the region in the past few decades.

October 30, 2020 – A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the Aegean Sea with its epicenter near the Greek island of Samos. Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, was also hit hard, with 119 people killed in total and more than 1,050 injured.

January 24, 2020 – More than 40 people are killed and more than 1,600 injured in a 6.7-magnitude earthquake in the eastern province of Elazig. Tremors were also felt in Syria, Lebanon and Iran.

October 23, 2011 – More than 600 people die when a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hits the eastern cities of Van and Ecres. A second earthquake occurred just about two weeks later, killing about 40 people and injuring hundreds of others.

May 1, 2003 – More than 160 people, including 83 children, are killed in the collapse of a school dormitory, in an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale. About 1,000 people were injured in the disaster in the eastern city of Bingol.

November 12, 1999 – In the northwestern town of Duxie, nearly 1,000 people are killed by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake.

August 17, 1999 – More than 17,000 people are killed in an earthquake that struck the western city of Izmit, about 55 miles southeast of Istanbul. Nearly half a million people were left homeless after the disaster.

Experts expect aftershocks to last for days or weeks

Turkey sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently rocked by earthquakes.

Stephen Hicks, a seismologist at University College London, told Sky News that Turkey and Syria had experienced “the worst kind of earthquakes”.

“It’s a very shallow earthquake under a densely populated area, a very strong earthquake, and in an area where we can see buildings can’t sustain that level of shaking.”

Hicks said there is a “small chance” there could be “stronger aftershocks” or even another earthquake “larger than the main shock”.

He also said there would be “tens of thousands” of aftershocks still occurring in the coming weeks but that number would “gradually decrease over time”.

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7:23 Expert: The worst kind of earthquake

Professor Bill McGuire, Professor Emeritus of Geosciences at UCLA, said: “This is a major earthquake that has clearly led to widespread devastation.

“Many buildings in the affected towns are simply not designed to handle this level of strong shaking, and in Syria many buildings have already been weakened by more than a decade of war.

“Unfortunately, I expect the death toll to rise exponentially, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised by the final death toll in the thousands.

“There were dozens of aftershocks in the aftermath of the main quake, and these tremors will continue for several days, hindering rescue and relief efforts and potentially causing already damaged buildings to collapse.”

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