Major quake kills hundreds across Turkey and Syria

eAdarsha.com Reporter
Feb 06, 2023
TÜRKIYE-MALATYA-EARTHQUAKES-AFTERMATH

(230206) — MALATYA, Feb. 6, 2023 (Xinhua) — People check damaged buildings after the earthquakes in Malatya, Türkiye, on Feb. 6, 2023. At least 284 people were killed and 2,323 others injured after two strong earthquakes jolted Türkiye early Monday and damaged more than 1,700 buildings, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

Istanbul: A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria early on Monday, killing hundreds of people as they slept, levelling buildings, and sending tremors that were felt as far away as the island of Cyprus and Egypt.

People checking damaged buildings after the earthquakes in Malatya, Turkey. Photo: Xinhua

One of the largest to strike Turkey in at least a century wiped out entire sections of major cities in a region filled with millions of people who have fled the civil war in Syria and other conflicts.

The head of Syria’s National Earthquake Centre, Raed Ahmed, told pro-government radio that this was “historically, the biggest earthquake recorded in the history of the centre”.

At least 245 people died in government-controlled parts of Syria, as well as the northern areas held by pro-Turkish factions, according to the health ministry and a local hospital.

At least 284 people died in Turkey, Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Monday, adding that more than 2,300 people had been injured and that search and rescue work was continuing in several major cities.

The rescue was being hampered by a winter blizzard that covered major roads in ice and snow.

Television images showed shocked people in Turkey standing in the snow in their pyjamas, watching rescuers dig through the debris of damaged homes.

The quake struck at 04:17 am local time (0117 GMT) at a depth of about 17.9 kilometres (11 miles) near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, which is home to around two million people, the US Geological Survey said. Turkey’s AFAD emergencies service centre put the first quake’s magnitude at 7.4, adding that 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 heading to a tightly-contested May 14 election, conveyed his sympathies and urged national unity.

“We hope that we will get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with the least damage,” the Turkish leader tweeted. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Washington was “profoundly concerned”.

“We stand ready to provide any and all needed assistance,” Sullivan said.The earthquake struck a restive, predominantly Kurdish area of Turkey near Syria, a countrygripped by more than a decade of violence that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.

‘People under rubble’ -Images on Turkish television showed rescuers digging through the rubble of levelled buildings in the city of Kahramanmaras and neighbouring Gaziantep, where entire sections of cities were destroyed.