The AP graphic shows the approximate location of an earthquake in southeastern Turkey early Monday.
(Photo: dpa)
Istanbul At least ten people were killed in an earthquake in Turkey on the border with Syria. The towns of Osmaniye and Sanliurfa each recorded five deaths, local authorities said early Monday. Dozens of buildings collapsed, people were buried under the rubble. The European earthquake monitoring station EMSC said that a tsunami risk is still being examined. The Red Cross mobilized rescue workers and asked people to leave damaged houses. The Turkish interior minister called on the people to stop using mobile phones so that people who have been buried can be reached first. The TV stations “TRT” and “Haberturk” showed pictures of people searching for survivors in the rubble.
According to the German geo-research center GFZ, the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.9. The epicenter was at a depth of ten kilometers. Turkey’s civil protection agency Afad put the magnitude of the quake at 7.4 near the city of Gaziantep near the Syrian border. The earthquake lasted about a minute, an eyewitness told Reuters news agency.
The earthquake was also felt in northern Syria, as well as in Lebanon and Cyprus. Syrian state media report numerous collapsed buildings in Aleppo province. In the Lebanese cities of Beirut and Tripoli, people fled their homes fearing a collapse, eyewitnesses said.
The region is regularly hit by strong earthquakes. Only at the end of January did an earthquake shake the border region between Turkey and Iran.
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