A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria early Monday, killing hundreds of people while they slept, levelling buildings, and sending tremors as far away as Cyprus and Egypt.
Rescuers are racing to find survivors trapped beneath rubble on either side of the Turkey-Syria border, as the death toll from one of Turkey’s strongest earthquakes in 100 years surpassed 500.
Nearly 3,000 people were injured when the 7.8-magnitude earthquake jolted them out of their beds around 4 a.m. Monday, sending tremors as far away as Lebanon and Israel.
The epicenter of the earthquake was 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi in Turkey’s Gaziantep province, at a depth of 24.1 kilometers (14.9 miles), according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
According to Vice President Fuat Oktay, at least 284 people were killed and over 2,300 were injured in Turkey. At least 237 people were killed and over 630 were injured in neighbouring Syria, according to Syrian state news agency SANA, citing a Ministry of Health official. The fatalities have been reported in Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, and Tartus.
The quake occurred at 04:17 a.m. local time (0117 GMT) at a depth of about 17.9 kilometres (11 miles) near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, which has a population of about two million people, according to the US Geological Survey.
The first quake had a magnitude of 7.4 according to Turkey’s AFAD emergency service centre, and it was followed by more than 40 aftershocks.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who will be under intense pressure to oversee an effective response to the disaster as the country prepares for a closely contested election on May 14, expressed his sympathies and urged national unity.
“We hope to get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with as little damage as possible,” Turkey’s president tweeted.
Washington is “deeply concerned,” according to US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
“We stand ready to provide any and all assistance that is required,” Sullivan said.
The earthquake struck a restive, predominantly Kurdish region of Turkey near Syria, a country gripped by a decade of violence that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.
People trapped beneath the rubble
Rescuers were seen digging through the rubble of levelled buildings in Kahramanmaras and neighbouring Gaziantep, where entire sections of cities had been destroyed, according to images broadcast on Turkish television.
In one image from Kahramanmaras, a fire lit up the night sky, but its origin was unknown.
Buildings collapsed in Adiyaman, Malatya, and Diyarbakir, where AFP reporters saw panicked people rush out onto the streets.
Because so many buildings were destroyed, Kahramanmaras Governor Omer Faruk Coskun said it was too early to estimate the death toll.
“At the moment, it is not possible to give the number of dead and injured because so many buildings have been destroyed,” Coskun said. “The damage is severe.”
A famous mosque from the 13th century partially collapsed in the province of Maltaya, as did a 14-story building with 28 apartments.
Anguished rescuers struggled to reach survivors trapped beneath the debris in other cities.
“We hear voices here and there,” one rescuer was overheard saying on NTV television in front of a flattened building in Diyarbakir.
“There could be 200 people beneath the rubble.”
