More than 3,800 people died in the powerful earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Many more people were injured. Many are still missing. Most of these people are believed to be buried under the rubble of buildings that collapsed in the earthquake. Rescuers are working to rescue the victims of the earthquake.
According to the information provided by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake hit the southeastern part of Turkey on the border with Syria at 4:17 am local time on Monday. The magnitude of the earthquake was 7.8 on the Richter scale. Most of the people were sleeping when the earthquake hit.
The organization also said that the earthquake was felt in other cities of the country, including Ankara, the capital of Turkey, and neighboring countries including Lebanon, Cyprus, and Israel. Then he was struck several times. One of these was 6.4 and one 6.5.
2 thousand 379 people died in the earthquake in Turkey. Search and rescue operations are continuing in various cities affected by the earthquake. However, adverse weather conditions have been avoided. Rescue operations are hampered by winter blizzards. Many roads are covered in snow.
According to the country’s official count, 14,483 people were injured in the earthquake in Turkey. 4 thousand 748 buildings collapsed in the country during and after the earthquake. A state of emergency has been declared in Turkey in this incident. The country has not seen such a powerful earthquake in 84 years.
According to Al-Jazeera, the affected areas in Turkey are Kahramanmaras, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Adiaman, Malatya, Osmaniye, Hatay and Kilis. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed deep sympathy for the victims of the earthquake and called for national unity to deal with the disaster.
Meanwhile, the government, hospitals and rescue workers in the war-torn country of Syria have confirmed the death of 1,444 people in the earthquake. According to the country’s Ministry of Interior, numerous buildings collapsed in Syria’s Aleppo, Hama, Tartus provinces due to the earthquake. In the released video, panicked people are seen running.
A statement from the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the death toll from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria is not enough. This number can increase up to eight times compared to now. United States, United Kingdom, France, Israel, Russia, United Arab Emirates have announced immediate assistance to Turkey and Syria to deal with the extreme humanitarian crisis caused by the earthquake.
Nilufer Aslan, a resident of Adana, southern Turkey, woke up when the building swayed in the earthquake. He lives in a five-story building. Realizing the magnitude of the earthquake, Nilufar assumed that neither he nor his family would survive. So the neighbors called the relatives and said, ‘Earthquake is happening. Come on, at least we all die together in one place.’
Most people in the area were asleep when the earthquake struck. Nilufar Aslan said, “I have never seen anything like this in my life. Our building swayed for about a minute.
As soon as the earthquake stopped, Nilufar ran out of the building. He said, ‘I could not take anything with me. After going out, I saw that I was wearing sandals that I wear at home.
After going out, Nilufar saw that four nearby buildings had collapsed.
This is how the local people who witnessed the incident expressed their fear and surprise after the earthquake. Samer, a resident of Damascus, the capital of Syria, said that the pictures hanging on the walls fell down. Woke up with great fear.
Erdem, a resident of Gaziantep, Turkey, told Reuters news agency, “I felt like a child being rocked on a swing.” I have never seen anything like it in my 40 years. Everyone was either sitting in their cars, or running with cars to open spaces. I think, now not a single person is in his own house.
Nihat Altundag, a resident of Pazarsik, told The Guardian newspaper reporter, “I was surrounded by collapsed buildings. Many buildings were on fire. There were buildings that were just crumbling. A building collapsed just 200 meters from where I am now. Everyone is outside, everyone is scared. Source: BBC
