Turkey and Syria were hit by an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale in the night from Sunday to Monday. The American seismological institute USGS announced this on Monday. Several buildings have collapsed and dozens of deaths have already been reported. Many more victims are feared.
The epicenter was about 33 kilometers northwest of Gaziantep, a city of more than 2 million inhabitants in southern Turkey, near the Syrian border. The quake occurred at a depth of 18 kilometers. A strong 6.7 aftershock followed about 10 minutes later.
Syria has also been hit hard by the quake. For the time being, most deaths are reported there. According to Syrian state media, some buildings in the northern city of Aleppo and the central city of Hama collapsed and people were buried under the rubble. 42 people were killed and more than 200 injured.
At least 15 people have died in Turkey’s southern Osmaniye province and southeastern Sanliurfa province, the governors of the two provinces said on Monday. Images of collapsed buildings are shared on social media, as well as testimonials from people who are said to be still under the rubble of buildings. According to Turkish television station HaberTurk, several buildings have collapsed in the provinces of Malatya, Diyarbakir and Malatya.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Twitter that he has sent several search and rescue teams to the affected areas. “We hope that together we will get through this disaster as quickly as possible and with as little damage as possible,” he wrote.
Tectonic plates
Earthquakes are relatively common in Turkey, as several tectonic plates meet under the country. In the summer of 1999, an earthquake in Izmit killed 17,000 and nearly 900 more in an earthquake in Düzce three months later. Two separate earthquakes in 2020 killed more than 150 people.
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