Dozens of aftershocks in a few hours

The earthquake in the Turkish-Syrian border area killed at least 35,000 people. Thousands were injured. A first magnitude 7.7 earthquake shook southeastern Turkey early Monday morning. An almost equally severe quake followed at noon.

At least 912 victims had been reported in Turkey late Monday morning, according to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. More than 5,300 people were injured. 1700 houses collapsed.

Lots of aftershocks

In Syria, the death toll rose to more than 460. About 1,600 people were injured, according to Deputy Health Minister Ahmed Dhamirijeh and the aid organization Syrian American Medical Society (Sams), which works in rebel-held areas of the country.

The epicenter of the first strong quake was in Kahramanmaras province near the Syrian border, Turkish civil protection authority Afad said. There were a large number of aftershocks. Rain, snow and cold make rescue operations difficult.

Buildings have also collapsed in numerous cities in Syria, according to the state-run Sana news agency. Rescue teams tried to pull people out of the rubble at night and at dawn. According to Sana, according to the head of the National Earthquake Center, it is the strongest earthquake in Syria since 1995. President Bashar al-Assad convened his cabinet for an emergency meeting.

The hospital also collapsed

Residential houses and a hospital in the town of Iskenderun are among the collapsed buildings in Turkey. According to the state news agency Anadolu, the castle in the city of Gaziantep has also been badly damaged. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Due to the communication bottlenecks, people in Turkey are being asked to call online and not via the mobile phone network, so that buried persons can be reached first. Temperatures in the affected areas are currently often in the minus range. It snowed heavily in some places.

The state broadcaster TRT shows how people were freed from the rubble in the snow, for example in the town of Iskenderun.

Call for blood donations and in-kind donations

Aid organizations and communities in the affected regions are calling for donations of blood and equipment and for items such as blankets, heaters, winter clothing, food packages and baby food.

The earthquake was also felt in Lebanon, which borders Syria. In the capital Beirut, some residents hastily fled their homes. The earthquake was also felt in Israel. There were no injuries or damage, according to Israeli police.

In Italy, civil protection issued a tsunami warning on Monday evening, which was withdrawn a few hours later.

constant danger

Turkey is repeatedly hit by strong earthquakes. Two of the largest continental plates meet there: the African and the Eurasian. In fact, most of the Turkish population lives in constant danger from earthquakes.

In October 2020, more than 100 people died in Izmir in one of the strongest earthquakes in recent years. In 1999 Turkey was hit by one of the worst natural disasters in its history: a magnitude 7.4 earthquake in the region around the northwestern industrial city of Izmit claimed the lives of more than 17,000 people. Experts also expect a strong earthquake in Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, in the near future. (SDA/kes/no)

Source: Blick