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An earthquake hits Turkey and Syria, leaving at least 1,300 dead

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  • A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hits Turkey and Syria.
  • At least 1,300 in Turkey and Syria have died as a result of the quake.
  • The death toll is expected to rise.

An earthquake hits Turkey and Syria. A 7.8-magnitude quake struck southeastern Turkey and Syria early Monday, toppling hundreds of buildings and killing at least 1,300 people. It is believed that there were still hundreds of people under the debris and the death toll could rise as rescuers searched through the wreckage. There was a second tremor a few hours after the first.

On both sides of the border, tremors jolted people awake several hours before dawn, forcing them out into the streets on a cold night with wind, rain and snow. Dozens of buildings collapsed in cities across the border region, according to the AP.

7.8 magnitude earthquake hits Turkey and Syria

Turkey earthquake leaves dead
Photo: AP

Rescuers and residents searched anxiously under the rubble, among the piles of twisted metal and concrete blocks. A hospital has collapsed in Turkey and patients, including newborns, have been evacuated from a handful of centers in Syria. In the Turkish city of Adana, a witness said three buildings near his home had collapsed.

One person trapped in the rubble cried, «I have no strength to hold on,» as rescuers tried to locate her, according to a witness, journalism student Muhammet Fatih Yavus. Farther east, in Diyarbakir, cranes and rescue teams worked on a pile of piled-up concrete floors that had once been an apartment building.

Earthquake in Turkey leaves at least 1,300 dead

Turkey earthquake leaves dead
Photo: AP

The quake struck a region scarred on both sides of the border by more than a decade of civil war in Syria. On the Syrian side, that area is divided between territory controlled by the government and the last enclave in the hands of the opposition, which is surrounded by Syrian forces with Russian support. Turkey, for its part, hosts millions of refugees from that conflict.

Some four million Syrians from other parts of the country displaced by the fighting are crowding the regions controlled by the opposition. Many live in buildings already weakened by past bombings. Hundreds of families were trapped in the rubble, according to a statement from the White Helmets emergency opposition organization. Filed Under: Turkey earthquake leaves dead.

Hospitals quickly filled with the wounded

Turkey earthquake leaves dead
Photo: AP

Battered medical centers and hospitals quickly filled with the wounded, according to rescuers. Others, such as a maternity hospital, had to be evacuated, according to the SAMS medical organization. Turkey is located in a zone of large seismic faults and registers frequent earthquakes.

Some 18,000 people died in 1999 in a series of earthquakes in the northwest of the country. The US Geological Survey estimated the quake’s magnitude at 7.8. At least 20 aftershocks were recorded, some of them hours later when the sun had already risen. The strongest had a magnitude of 6.6, according to the Turkish authorities. Filed Under: earthquake hits turkey and syria

Almost 900 buildings collapsed in the Turkish provinces after the powerful earthquake

Almost 900 buildings collapsed in the Turkish provinces after the powerful earthquake
Photo: AP

The quake destroyed buildings from the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey’s Diyarbakir, more than 200 miles (330 kilometers) away to the northeast. Nearly 900 buildings collapsed in Turkey’s Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras provinces, Vice President Fuat Oktay said. A hospital collapsed in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandretta, but the number of victims was initially unknown.

«Unfortunately, we are also experiencing extremely severe weather conditions at this time,» Oktay told reporters. Nearly 2,800 search and rescue teams had been deployed in the affected areas, he added. “We hope that we will get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with the least amount of damage,” Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan tweeted. Countries from Taiwan to Russia and Germany have offered to send help, be it medical supplies, rescue teams or money, said the AP. Filed Under: earthquake hits turkey and syria

Second magnitude 7.5 quake is reported in Turkey a few hours after the first deadly tremor

Second earthquake of magnitude 7.5 is reported in Turkey a few hours after the first deadly tremor
Photo: Twitter

Another earthquake was recorded in Turkey hours after the catastrophic quake that killed 1300 people. The second tremor occurred at 1:24 pm (10:24 GMT), two and a half miles south-southeast of the city of Ekinozu, according to the Daily Mail.

The magnitude 7.5 quake struck when hundreds of people were believed to be still trapped under rubble from the devastating jolt of the first quake, so the death toll is expected to rise as rescuers search for more bodies.

Possible tsunami alert reported after powerful earthquakes in Turkey

Report possible tsunami alert
Photo: Twitter

La Vanguardia has reported that, following the second earthquake in Turkey, aftershocks have been felt in the Iraqi provinces of Dohuk and Mosul and the Kurdish capital, Erbil. Turkey’s AFAP emergency authority and the United States Geological Survey determined the quake’s magnitude to be 7.5.

According to the outlet, it is expected that a tsunami alert will be issued in the next few hours after experiencing two powerful quakes that have collapsed hundreds of buildings and caused mass death.

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