Rescue services and volunteers help to evacuate one of those affected. /
The Turkish authorities ask for international help after the earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, which claims more than 300 deaths and a thousand missing on the border with the Arab republic
More than 300 people have died and around a thousand have been injured after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake registered in the south of Turkey, next to the border with Syria. The Ottoman authorities have reported that at least 76 people have lost their lives and 440 have disappeared, while the Arab country has already reported 237 deaths and 639 injuries in government-controlled areas, along with dozens of deaths in the areas north under rebel control. The figures do not stop rising and the images that arrive from Turkish cities show great destruction with dozens of tall buildings reduced to rubble.
The epicenter of the earthquake, which lasted about 30 seconds, was registered at 4:17 local time (two less in the Iberian Peninsula) 33 kilometers south of the Turkish city of Gaziantep, in the province of Kahramanmaras, 600 kilometers southeast of the capital Ankara. The tremor has been noted in Lebanon, Cyprus or Cairo.
Map of the region affected by the earthquake. /
The Turkish Disaster and Emergency Authority has sent its teams to the area and says that there are at least 10 cities affected, raises the alarm level to 4 and calls for international help. Bad weather makes rescue work difficult and from cities like Istanbul and Ankara flights to the East are cut off due to the storm. The Turkish government has issued an international alarm asking for help. “We are receiving notifications from many places, our rescue teams have been dispatched to the area, cargo planes are being prepared and dispatched,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.
It is more complicated to know what is happening in northern Syria, but here the death toll has already risen to more than a hundred and the tremor has affected the provinces of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia. A spokesman for the Syrian Ministry of Health has indicated that the balance, which is provisional, includes victims from several cities such as the capital, Aleppo, in the north of the country; Hama, 140 kilometers south of the capital; or Latakia, in the west, according to what the Sana news agency has learned.
In addition, a general emergency and supply plan has been implemented in the affected places, while medical teams, including ambulances and mobile clinics, have been dispatched from various regions. The country’s authorities have indicated that there are several dozen residential buildings, located in various neighborhoods, which have collapsed as a result of the earthquakes.
Idlib, Syria – civilians and White Helmets climb through the snow and ice over destroyed residential buildings to pull earthquake victims from the rubble. The initial quake was a 7.8 magnitude with an aftershock of 6.7 causing landslides and destruction. pic.twitter.com/uKpFnATMug
Muhammad Najem (@muhammadnajem20) February 6, 2023
The strongest in twenty years
The last major earthquake on Turkish territory occurred on August 17, 1999 in Izmit, in the northwestern region of Anatolia, with a magnitude of 7.6. Then it left more than 17,000 dead On the other hand, the director general of the National Seismic Center, Raed Ahmed, explained to Sana that this earthquake is “the strongest” since 1995, when the national seismic monitoring network was installed.