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There are fears that the death toll could rise further
A powerful earthquake struck a wide area in southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border. More than 200 people were killed and many were trapped in the rubble.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck at 4:17 local time near the city of Gaziantep at a depth of 17.9 km, the US Geological Survey said.
We still don’t know how many people have been affected in rebel-held provinces.
Authorities in Turkey have confirmed more than 76 deaths so far. 10 cities including Diyarbakir were affected by this earthquake.
More than 50 people have been killed in Syria, according to the country’s media.
The death toll is feared to rise sharply in the next few hours.
Many buildings have collapsed. Rescue teams have been deployed to search for survivors amid the massive rubble.
Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 10 cities have been affected: Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Hadai, Osmaniye, Atiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir and Kilis.
At least 23 people were killed in Malatya province, northeast of Gaziantep, local officials said. 17 people died in Sanliurfa in the east. More casualties were reported in Diyarbakir and Osmaniye.
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Vehicles crushed by a collapsed building in the earthquake in Malatya, northeast of Gaziantep.
Syria’s health ministry said 237 people were killed in the government-held provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartus. The ministry said more than 600 people were injured.
Turkey’s vice president said 284 people have died and 2,323 have been injured.
It is said that more than 500 people may have died so far due to the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Analysts say it could be the biggest earthquake in Turkey’s history.
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Rescue work is going on in Diyarbakir, northeast of Gaziantep, in the damaged buildings.
Hundreds more were trapped in the rubble. Rescuing them is very difficult due to harsh weather conditions.
A BBC Turkey correspondent in Diyarbakır reported that a shopping mall in the city had collapsed.
In Syria, state media reported several casualties in Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.
The tremors were also felt in Lebanon and Cyprus.
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In northern Syria, several buildings were leveled by the earthquake in the city of Hama.
“I was writing something when suddenly the whole building shook. I couldn’t think what to do,” Mohamed El Sama, a student in the Lebanese capital Beirut, told the BBC.
And, “I was near the window. So, I was afraid that they might break. It lasted for four-five minutes. It was very scary,” he said.
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Syrian people working to rescue people trapped in the rubble
Rushdi Abualouf, a BBC producer in the Gaza Strip, said the tremors lasted about 45 seconds in the house where he was staying.
According to Turkish seismologists, the magnitude of the earthquake was 7.4 on the Richter scale. A second earthquake hit the area within minutes, they said.
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Residents search for survivors amid the rubble in the Turkish border town of Ahmarin.
Turkey is one of the most active earthquake zones in the world.
In 1999, a powerful earthquake struck the northwest of the country, killing more than 17,000 people.
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