Hundreds of people died as they slept in Turkey and Syria after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit in the early hours of Monday morning, in one of the most powerful quakes in the region in at least a century. Thousands more were injured even as the quake wiped out entire sections of major cities in a region packed with millions of people who have fled the civil war in Syria and other conflicts. The death toll had been put at 237 in government-controlled parts of Syria, 147 in rebel-held northern Syria and 284 in Turkey. The toll was expected to rise as rescue workers and residents searched frantically for survivors under the rubble of crushed buildings in cities on both sides of the border.
The major Turkish city Gaziantep has the highest death toll so far with 80 casualties.
Gaziantep is located about 90km from the Syrian border and historically known as Antep. Several other quakes hit the city on Monday after the initial powerful 7.8 magnitude quake, including one of magnitude 6.4 and another at magnitude 6.5.
Seventy deaths have been reported in Kahramanmaras, with the second-highest death toll.
French President Emmanuel Macron has promised that his country was ready to provide emergency aid to Turkey and Syria.
“We are receiving terrible images from Turkey and Syria following an earthquake of unprecedented force,” Macron tweeted.
“France is ready to provide emergency relief to the populations on the ground. Our thoughts are with the bereaved families,” said president Macron, whose relations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have often been strained.
The European Union is sending rescue teams and preparing further help for Turkey, the bloc’s crisis management commissioner has said.
“Teams from the Netherlands and Romania are already on their way,” with the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre overseeing their deployment, commissioner Janez Lenarcic tweeted.
His office said Turkey had requested EU assistance and that the bloc’s Civil Protection Mechanism had been activated in response.
