Earthquake Hit Southern Turkey: 76 Dead, 440 Injured in 7.9-Magnitude.
Earthquake was also felt in Cyprus, Lebanon, and Syria. Dozens of buildings were destroyed, and survivors were found by digging through the debris in the snowy streets.
While announcing a “level 4 warning” that requests international aid, Turkish officials dispatched rescue teams and supply aircraft to the area near the city of Karamanmaras.
Early official reports put the death toll in Turkey’s Malatya region at least at 23, Sanliurfa at 17, Diyarbakir at 6, and Osmaniye at 5. State media in Syria, south of the border, reported 42 fatalities.
In my 40 years of life, I have never experienced anything like that, said Erdem, a citizen of the Turkish city of Gaziantep, which is close to the epicentre of the earthquake. Erdem declined to disclose his last name.
At least three times, we experienced “extremely powerful shaking, like a baby in a crib.”
He continued that it was still too dark to see the extent of the damage.
He stated over the phone that “everyone is sitting in their automobiles, or trying to drive to open spaces away from buildings.” “I imagine that nobody in Gaziantep is at home right now.”
A witness for Reuters reported that the tremor, which occurred 350 kilometres (218 miles) to the east in Diyarbakir, broke windows and caused at least 17 structures to collapse.
According to local officials, 16 buildings in Sanliurfa and 34 in Osmaniye fell.
In Kahramanmaras, where it was still dark, television stations TRT and Haberturk aired footage of people searching through building rubble, transferring stretchers, and looking for survivors.
Suleyman Soylu, the interior minister, told reporters that performing search and rescue operations was his department’s main responsibility.
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The EMSC monitoring service said it was evaluating the risk of a tsunami, however the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) reported that the earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 km (6 miles).
Following the original tremor, which was recorded by the US Geological Survey (USGS) as having a magnitude of 7.8, a number of further earthquakes were observed. A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck Gaziantep, and a 5.6-magnitude one struck the city’s Nurdag neighbourhood.
Near Kahramanmaras and the bigger city of Gaziantep, close to the Syrian border, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) of Turkey estimated the magnitude of the earthquake to be 7.4.
In contrast to what a source in the Hama civil service claimed, the Syrian official media reported that many structures collapsed in the province of Aleppo.
Samer, a citizen of the nation’s capital, Damascus, claimed that paintings had fallen from the walls of the home. “I awoke in terror. We are all dressed and waiting at the door right now.”
Witnesses reported that residents of Damascus and the Lebanese cities of Beirut and Tripoli fled their buildings in case they fell and got into their automobiles.
In addition to Cyprus, where no damage was recorded by the police, tremors were also felt overnight in Ankara, 460 kilometres (286 miles) to the northwest of the epicentre.
Strong earthquakes frequently hit the region.
“We were afraid of the area when the earthquake happened. There is significant, extensive damage, “In a statement to Haberturk, Kerem Kinik, the head of the Turkish Red Crescent humanitarian organisation, made a request for blood donations.
