Hundreds of people have been killed when a strong earthquake struck the southern part of Turkey early Monday morning.
The magnitude of the earthquake, which collapsed several buildings in Turkey and Syria, was measured at 7.8.
The earthquake in Syria has killed 237 people and injured 639, the country’s Ministry of Health informs. According to the Turkish authorities, 76 people have died and 440 have been injured in the country.
Information about the dead and injured is preliminary, as rescue operations are currently continuing.
– I have never experienced anything similar in my forty years of life, described a local resident Erdem From Gaziantep, Turkey, for the news agency Reuters.
– We were rocked at least three times very strongly – as if a baby had been rocked in a cradle, he continued.
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In Syria, dozens of people have been buried under collapsed houses, says the Syrian Civil Defense, which operates in rebel areas. The aid organization is also known as the White Helmets.
The video published by the organization on Twitter shows people trying to be rescued from a collapsed house north of Aleppo.
A doctor working in the city of Atmed Muheeb Qaddour told AP that the quake is feared to have killed hundreds of people in rebel-held areas of northwest Syria.
– We are under extreme pressure, Qaddour told AP.
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wrote in the early morning on Twitter that search and rescue teams were immediately dispatched to the quake-hit areas.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the magnitude of the earthquake was 7.8. The Turkish disaster agency AFAD, on the other hand, said that the magnitude of the earthquake was 7.4.
A second magnitude 6.7 aftershock followed the first about 15 minutes later, according to the US Geological Survey.
The earthquake hit near the city of Gaziantep in the southern part of the country. According to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred at a depth of almost 18 kilometers.
The quake was felt as far away as Cyprus and Lebanon
According to AFP correspondents, tremors of the earthquake were also felt in Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus.
According to Syrian state media, buildings collapsed in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. In Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, many residents left their homes and drove their cars away from buildings.
There is a snowstorm in the area, which is expected to continue until Thursday.
Turkey is one of the world’s most active earthquake regions. In 1999, about 18,000 people died in a powerful earthquake in northwestern Turkey.
Finland’s ambassador to Turkey: There may be individual Finns in the area
The earthquake was also felt in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, said Finland’s ambassador to Turkey Ari Mäki Radio 1’s Ykkösaamu. According to Mäki, the destruction will be great, because based on the pictures transmitted from the earthquake area, buildings have been destroyed in many large cities.
– There are several cities the size of Helsinki and Tampere in the earthquake area. There is talk of major destruction, but there is no exact information yet, Mäki comments.
There is also no information yet on possible Finnish victims. A total of around 300 Finns have made a travel declaration to all of Turkey.
– The area is not a tourist destination and it is the winter season anyway, but there may still be individual Finns in the area, says Mäki.
The article will be updated with the latest information