In the middle of the night, the earthquake struck. Images from TV and social media show shocked residents standing in their pajamas in the snow and following the rescue efforts.
More than 700 have so far been reported dead after what is the most powerful earthquake in southern Turkey and Syria since 1939.
Many buildings have collapsed. People are trapped in the ruins.
According to the American earthquake center USGS, the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8. The epicenter was at Pazarcik, north of the large city of Gaziantep. The city is the sixth largest in Turkey and has over two million inhabitants.
The disaster occurred a little after 02 o’clock local time. Ten minutes later there was an aftershock with a magnitude of 6.7. Then at least five more.
The death toll is feared to rise significantly in both countries.
– A disaster
– Do you hear any sounds?
A distraught woman in the city of Diyarbakir in Turkey has just made it to safety. But her brother is still trapped in the ruins, writes the Turkish newspaper Hurriyat.
Rescue workers and residents search through collapsed buildings in Turkey and Syria. In twisted steel beams and crushed cement. There is snow and freezing temperatures in the area.
From the ruins of a house in the city of Adana, aid workers hear a desperate cry.
– I don’t have the strength anymore, shouts a survivor trapped in the ruins.
Over two million people live in the area on the Turkish side.
– It is completely impossible to say anything about how many dead and wounded are in the destroyed buildings, says the mayor of one of the hardest-hit cities Kahramanmaras to Turkish TV.
– But there are very many.
Several million people also live in the earthquake-affected regions of Syria. Many of them are refugees.
– The conditions are catastrophic. Low temperatures and bad weather make the situation even worse.
The aid organization White Helmets reports this Twitter.
– The house swayed for a minute
Witnesses and authorities say that countless buildings collapsed. Both in Turkey and Syria.
Nilüfer Aslan and his family were on the 5th floor of a block of flats in the Turkish city of Adana when the earthquake struck.
– Our block swung back and forth for a minute, Aslan adds BBC.
– The only thing I thought was that we would at least die together.
Images on TV and social media show shocked residents standing in their pajamas in the snow in front of collapsed houses.
The mark shook all the way to Egypt
The quake could be felt in a large area of Turkey, including in the capital Ankara. People in Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus and Israel noticed it too. This is reported by Reuters journalist Timour Azhari in Beirut. Even in Cairo in Egypt it could be felt.
Many people poured into the streets of Beirut and Damascus when the tremors occurred.
– We hope we will get through this disaster as soon as possible and with as little damage as possible.
This is what President Recep Tayyip Erdogan writes on Twitter. He adds that the highest priority is to rescue those trapped in the ruins.
1 out of 6Photo: Ghaith Alsayed / AP / NTB
A number of videos and photos show how high-rise buildings collapsed.
Aid workers search for people in the ruins.
The temperature is down to minus degrees in parts of the areas. The weather forecast is between about snow and heavy rain.
The Civil Defense asked people not to enter collapsed buildings. Survivors gathered in open areas.
Turkey is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries. In 1999, 18,000 people died when the country was hit by several earthquakes.
– We cannot escape the fact that Turkey is prone to earthquakes. It is not the earthquake that kills. It’s the buildings.
Then writes one of Turkey’s largest newspapers Hurriyat.
Strongest earthquake since 1939
The earthquake’s center struck 23 kilometers east of the city of Durdagi in Gaziantep province, 24 kilometers underground. This is reported by the US Geological Survey.
Only twice before has an equally powerful earthquake been recorded in Turkey and Syria. Also in 1916 and 1939 there were earthquakes that were measured at 7.8. Both of these were in Turkey.
The most powerful earthquake in the country’s history is considered to be an earthquake in northern Anatolia in 1668, south of the city of Samsun. It is estimated to have been up to force 8.
Residents in the area were encouraged to leave their homes. The reason is the violent aftershocks.
A total of 78 major aftershocks have been measured. The largest aftershock was measured at 6.7.
– The situation is very serious, says the mayor of the city of Yesilyurt, Mehmet Cinar, to the Turkish online newspaper Hurriyat.
The city with 350,000 inhabitants is one of the many that have been hit hard.
– Our hospital and hotel were completely destroyed, says the mayor.
Only in the morning hours, when daylight came, did the scale of the disaster really begin to show itself.
– We did not discover all the damage because everything was dark, says the mayor.
– Everyone wants to get away as far as possible
In the affected cities, there is chaos and traffic jams. People try to escape in cars.
– Everyone sits in their cars and tries to drive to open areas as far away from buildings as possible.
This is what a witness in the city of Gaziantep tells Reuters.
– I have never experienced anything like this during the 40 years I have lived. We were shaken very violently three times, like a baby in a manger.
The loss figures increase almost from minute to minute.
The ten hardest hit cities in Turkey by the earthquake are Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir and Kilis.
