More than 2,300 dead in Turkey and Syria after two powerful earthquakes
This aerial view shows residents searching for victims and survivors amidst the rubble of collapsed buildings following an earthquake in the village of Besnia near the twon of Harim, in Syria. Picture: OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images
More than 2,300 people have died after a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria, hours before a second quake hit more than 60 miles away.
Hundreds of people are still believed to be trapped under rubble, and the death toll is expected to rise as rescue workers searched the wreckage in cities and towns across the region.
On both sides of the border, residents jolted out of sleep by the pre-dawn quake rushed outside on a cold winter night, as buildings were flattened and strong aftershocks continued.
Rescue workers and residents in multiple cities searched for survivors, working through tangles of metal and giant piles of concrete. A hospital in Turkey also collapsed and patients, including newborn babies, were evacuated from a handful of facilities in Syria.
In the Turkish city of Adana, one resident said three buildings near his home had collapsed.
Farther east in Diyarbakir, cranes and rescue teams rushed people on stretchers out of a mountain of pancaked concrete floors that was once an apartment building.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “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.
“Hopefully, we will leave these disastrous days behind us in unity and solidarity as a country and a nation.” The quake, felt as far away as Cairo, was centred on Turkey’s south-eastern province of Kahramanmaras.
It struck a region that has been shaped on both sides of the border by more than a decade of civil war in Syria.
On the Syrian side, the area affected is divided between government-held territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. Turkey, meanwhile, is home to millions of refugees from that conflict.
More than 1,100 people were killed in 10 Turkish provinces, with some 7,600 injured, according to the country’s disaster management agency.
The death toll in government-held areas of Syria climbed to more than 430 people, with some 1,280 injured, according to the health ministry.
In the country’s rebel-held north-west, groups that operate there said the death toll was at least 380, with many hundreds injured.
The opposition-held regions in Syria are packed with some four million people displaced from other parts of the country by the fighting. Many of them live in buildings that are already wrecked from past bombardments.
Hundreds of families remained trapped in rubble, according to the opposition emergency organisation, called the White Helmets.7
Strained health facilities and hospitals were quickly filled with wounded, rescue workers said. Others had to be emptied, including a maternity hospital, according to the SAMS medical organisation.
“We fear that the deaths are in the hundreds,” Dr Muheeb Qaddour said by phone from the town of Atmeh.
Turkey sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Turkey in 1999.
At least 20 aftershocks followed, some hours later during daylight, the strongest measuring 6.6, Turkish authorities said.
Buildings were reported collapsed in a wide area extending from Syria’s cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey’s Diyarbakir, more than 200 miles to the north-east. Nearly 900 buildings were destroyed in Turkey’s Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras provinces, said vice president Fuat Oktay.
A hospital collapsed in the Mediterranean coastal city of Iskanderoun, but casualties were not immediately known, he said.
“Unfortunately, at the same time, we are also struggling with extremely severe weather conditions,” Mr Oktay told reporters.
Nearly 2,800 search and rescue teams have been deployed in the disaster-stricken areas, he said.
The US Geological Survey measured Monday’s quake at 7.8. Hours later, a 7.5 magnitude one struck more than 60 miles away.
An official from Turkey’s disaster management agency said it was a new earthquake, not an aftershock, though its effects were not immediately clear. Hundreds of aftershocks were expected after the two tremors, the official told reporters.
Countries from Taiwan to Russia to Germany offered to send help, whether medical supplies, search teams or money.
In Turkey, people trying to leave the quake-stricken regions caused traffic jams, hampering efforts of emergency teams trying to reach the affected areas. Authorities urged residents not to take to the roads. Mosques around the region were being opened up as a shelter for people unable to return to damaged homes amid temperatures that hovered around freezing.
The quake heavily damaged Gaziantep’s most famed landmark, its historic castle perched atop a hill in the centre of the city. Parts of the fortresses’ walls and watch towers were levelled and other parts heavily damaged, images from the city showed.
In Diyarbakir, hundreds of rescue workers and civilians formed lines across a mountain of wreckage, passing down broken concrete pieces, household belongings and other debris as they searched for trapped survivors while excavators dug through the rubble below.
In north-west Syria, the quake added new woes to the opposition-held enclave centred on the province of Idlib, which has been under siege for years, with frequent Russian and government air strikes.
The territory depends on a flow of aid from nearby Turkey for everything from food to medical supplies.
The opposition’s Syrian Civil Defence described the situation there as “disastrous”, adding that entire buildings have collapsed and people are trapped under the rubble.
In the small Syrian rebel-held town of Azmarin in the mountains by the Turkish border, the bodies of several dead children, wrapped in blankets, were brought to a hospital.
The Irish embassy in Turkey is urging anybody affected by the earthquake to call its out-of-hours mobile. Embassy staff have also posted their condolences over those who have died.
“Our hearts are with the Turkish people following the awful earthquake this morning,” they tweeted.
“We especially wish to offer our condolences to all those who have lost loved ones and wish all those injured a speedy recovery.”
In an earlier tweet, the embassy said: “If you are an Irish citizen in the affected area and you require urgent consular assistance, please contact the out of hours duty service on: +90 312 459 10 00. You can also email ankaraembassy@dfa.ie."
President Michael D Higgins offered his condolences to those affected by the tragedy, saying: "All of our thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones and those have been injured, and we send our support to those emergency services who continue with the work of rescuing and protection of those impacted by these terrible tragedies.
"As President of Ireland, I wish to assure those members of the Turkish and Syrian communities living in Ireland who may have relatives directly impacted that we are offering them our solidarity at this time."
Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin added that he was "shocked and saddened to learn of the devastating earthquake".
"Our thoughts go to all those who lost loved ones, the injured, and first responders. Ireland stands ready to support local and international relief efforts," he said.
Concern Worldwide said they are providing "emergency supplies and shelter" to those impacted.
The Irish humanitarian organisation is currently supplying blankets and heaters to emergency shelters in Şanlıurfa, close to the epicentre of the earthquakes in southern Turkey, along with food and water.
Concern is also opening community centres that are deemed safe, so families have somewhere to sleep. In northwest Syria, Concern is working with local partners to assess what response is needed.
Regional director Fiona Gannon said: "The biggest priority for people affected by these earthquakes is shelter as it’s currently below freezing (-4 degrees Celsius) in the areas hit by the earthquakes,
"These have been some of the strongest earthquakes in a 100 years and aftershocks have disrupted communications and electricity supplies, many people are too afraid to go inside, choosing to sleep in their cars instead.“
Concern has also launched an emergency fundraising appeal.
