People search for missing people under collapsed houses.
(Photo: AP)
Istanbul At least 170 people died in the severe earthquake in the Turkish-Syrian border region. At least 76 people died in Turkey, the state news agency Anadolu reported on Monday, citing the civil protection agency Afad. At least 440 people were injured. At least 99 people died in Syria, state television reported, citing the Ministry of Health.
A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Turkey early Monday morning. According to the civil protection agency Afad, the epicenter was in the province of Kahramanmaras near the Syrian border. Another earthquake measuring 6.6 was measured shortly afterwards in the province of Gaziantep. The Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam had previously reported earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.4 and 7.9. According to official information, the earthquake was also felt in Israel.
The extent of the disaster was not yet foreseeable. According to official figures, at least nine provinces in south-eastern Turkey are affected, including Kahramanmaras and Diyarbakir, more than 300 kilometers away. Numerous houses collapsed. In the province of Malatya alone, 140 buildings collapsed, the broadcaster CNN Türk reported.
Our main task is to carry out the search and rescue work and for that all our teams are on alert,” Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu told reporters. 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. The European earthquake monitoring station EMSC said that a tsunami risk is still being examined.
The AP graphic shows the approximate location of an earthquake in southeastern Turkey early Monday.
(Photo: dpa)
The earthquake was also felt in Lebanon and Cyprus. 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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