More than 2,300 people were killed after a massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Turkey and Syria on Monday.
A press release from Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency gave the latest death toll of 1,498 people in Turkey alone, along with over 7,000 injured. In Syria, the earthquake rocked both government and rebel-held areas, killing a combined total of 846, with more than 2,300 injured, the Washington Post reported, citing opposition and government sources.
MORE THAN 1,300 KILLED AFTER POWERFUL 7.8 QUAKE STRIKES IN TURKEY AND SYRIA
Pictures and videos from the scenes of the disaster illustrate the destruction the earthquake brought to the area. Rebel-held areas of Syria pleaded for help from international organizations, saying their rescue and medical infrastructure were not equipped to handle the scale of the disaster.
The level of destruction caused by the earthquake in Turkey makes it look like a war zone. This is utterly heartbreaking. Pray for Turkey and especially for the people trapped under the rubble. pic.twitter.com/PeqPXoNKlF
— KC (@kci2013) February 6, 2023
A representative of the Syrian Civil Defense group said that it is “not capable of responding; the size of the disaster is far larger than our abilities,” he told the Washington Post. “Every minute, we lose a life. We are now racing with time. We need heavy equipment, we need heavy machinery dedicated for rescue missions. We need rescue teams. We need fuel. We have been using up backup fuel for the past two months.”
“Tens of thousands of civilians are homeless,” he added. “The medical situation is abysmal. Tens of thousands of buildings are now cracked. There’s a snowstorm. There’s predictions of flooding in the area. The humanitarian situation is disastrous, with every meaning of the word. It’s not just the rescue — it’s the rescue and the humanitarian situation.”
The earthquake was centered on the Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the border with Syria. Strong aftershocks were reported as well.
Rescuers in Syria and Turkey report that hundreds are still trapped under the rubble. A massive international relief effort has already begun, with Russia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Romania, Poland, Spain, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Greece, the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Hungary, Malta, and the Netherlands contributing, the Associated Press reported.
“Because the debris removal efforts are continuing in many buildings in the earthquake zone, we do not know how high the number of dead and injured will rise,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the nation in a televised address. “Our hope is that we recover from this disaster with the least loss of life possible,” he added. “I pray that God protects us and all humanity from such natural disasters.”
Videos posted on social media showed buildings collapsing in the earthquake.
In #Sanliurfa the moment a building collapsed recorded by mobile phone hours after 7.8 #earthquake hits Turkey. #deprem pic.twitter.com/YDc8DH9lbn
— JournoTurk (@journoturk) February 6, 2023
Scary footage of the earthquake in Turkey tonight.
pic.twitter.com/NweJRwrnhn— Faytuks News Δ (@Faytuks) February 6, 2023
⚡️Building collapsing in Turkey after massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake pic.twitter.com/bpcWFLYLk2
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) February 6, 2023
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Reports from Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt claimed to have felt the earthquake, the Washington Post reported.
