CNN reported on the 6th (local time) that more than 500 people have died and more than 2,300 have been injured in the earthquake that struck the border between southern Turkey and northern Syria.
At least 284 people have been killed and more than 2,300 injured in the country, said Vice President Puat Okthai Türkiye, according to the media.
At least 237 people were killed and 639 injured in the earthquake, Syrian state news agency SANA said.
The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria puts the death toll to at least 521 so far.
The two countries are carrying out rescue operations.
The Syrian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that it was “providing immediate relief and emergency assistance to the people affected by the earthquake” and that it was “searching for those trapped under the rubble”.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkiye said that search and rescue teams had been dispatched to the affected areas, saying, “We are continuing our work in the hope that we will overcome this problem together as soon as possible with minimal damage.”
“All teams are on high alert,” said Interior Minister Suleiman Soilu Turkiye. “We have issued a level 4 alert.”
In particular, in the case of Gaziantep, which was hit by the earthquake, it is expected that the damage will be greater because hundreds of Syrian refugees live there. Doctor Muheb Kadur said of the area that “there are fears that there will be hundreds of deaths”.
Türkiye said more than 1,700 buildings were damaged in 10 cities in the country.
According to foreign media, the Turkiye Disaster Management Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) announced at 4:17 am (10:17 Korean time) on the 6th that a magnitude 7.8 was detected in the area about 33 km away from Gaziantep, a key industrial city in southern Turkey. of earthquakes were reported. Gaziantep is a region with a population of over 2 million.
About 10 minutes later, at 4:26 am, an aftershock of magnitude 6.7 followed. Turkey’s authorities said the most powerful of the daytime aftershocks was 6.6.
It is said to be one of the most powerful earthquakes to have occurred in Turkey in the past 100 years. The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the magnitude of the quake was the same as the earthquake that struck eastern Turkiye in 1939, 84 years ago, killing about 30,000 people.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.