The search for survivors continues. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit southern Turkey and neighboring Syria on Monday, February 6, killing more than 237 people in both countries and causing very significant damage according to the latest reports. At least 76 people have been killed in Turkey in seven different provinces, according to the government’s disaster management agency (Afad), and at least 119 others have lost their lives in Syria, according to Syrian state media and reports. hospitals. The victims were recorded in Aleppo, the second Syrian city in the north of the country, as well as in Hama (center) and Latakia and Tartous, on the Mediterranean coast.
A total of 639 people were injured in the two countries, the same sources said. During the night from Sunday to Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Twitter: “We hope to get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with the least possible damage, and we continue our work.”
However, the balance sheet should increase. According to the American seismological institute USGS, the earthquake took place at 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT), at a depth of approximately 17.9 kilometers. The epicenter is located in the district of Pazarcik, in the province of Kahramanmaras (southeast), about 60 km as the crow flies from the Syrian border. This earthquake is the largest in Turkey since the earthquake of August 17, 1999, which caused the death of 17,000 people, including a thousand in Istanbul. 28 people were killed in Adiyaman province, its governor announced on Monday, citing around 100 collapsed buildings.
At least six others were killed in Diyarbakir province, its governor said. “We hear voices here and there. We think maybe 200 people are under the rubble,” said a rescuer dispatched to a destroyed building in Diyarbakir, according to images broadcast on the NTV channel.
Tremors felt in Lebanon and Cyprus
According to Afad, the earthquake that occurred overnight had a magnitude of 7.4 and a depth of 7 km. Note that the tremors, felt throughout the south-east of the country, were also felt in Lebanon and Cyprus, according to AFP correspondents. Buildings have been destroyed in many cities in the south-east of the country, according to images broadcast by the Turkish media, raising fears of a much heavier toll. An AFP correspondent in Diyarbakir, a large city in the south-east of the country, saw a collapsed building, with rescuers hard at work trying to extricate people from the rubble.
On Twitter, Turkish Internet users shared the identity and location of people trapped under the rubble in several cities in the south-east of the country. Adana city mayor Zeydan Karalar said two 17-storey and 14-storey buildings were destroyed, according to TRT. He also called on residents to take their belongings and go to the assembly areas.
“All our teams are on alert. We have issued a level four alarm. This is a call, including for international help,” Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu told the Haberturk channel. “Our teams are on high alert to rescue survivors,” the Syrian White Helmets, rescuers working in rebel areas in Syria, also said on Twitter. “Our teams are on high alert to respond to the hundreds of wounded and trapped under the rubble. Dozens of victims have been recovered,” they explain on the social network. 50 aftershocks were recorded in Turkey, according to Afad.
The governor of Gaziantep province asked residents to gather outside despite the cold, while the head of Diyanet, the Turkish public body responsible for supervising worship, called on Turks in need to find refuge in mosques. Turkish rescuers and civil defense as well as Syrian firefighters were at work Monday morning to try to extract possible victims from the rubble, according to local media.
Turkey is located on one of the most active seismic zones in the world. At the end of November, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck northwestern Turkey, injuring around 50 people and causing limited damage, according to the Turkish emergency services. In January 2020, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck the provinces of Elazig and Malatya (East), killing more than 40 people. In October of the same year, a magnitude 7 earthquake in the Aegean Sea killed 114 people and injured more than 1,000 in Turkey.