Powerful quake kills more than 230 people in Turkey, Syria

ANKARA, TURKEY: A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday, toppling buildings and triggering a frantic search for survivors in the rubble in cities and towns across the area. At least 234 were killed and hundreds injured, and the toll was expected to rise. On both sides of the border, residents jolted out of sleep by the pre-dawn quake rushed outside on a cold, rainy and snowy winter night, as buildings were flattened and strong aftershocks continued. [caption id="attachment_33277" align="alignnone" width="1000"] People try to reach trapped residents in a collapsed building in Pazarcik, in Kahramanmaras province, southern Turkey, early Monday, February 6, 2023. Photo: AP via RSS[/caption] Rescue workers and residents frantically searched for survivors under the rubble of their homes in multiple cities, working through tangles of metal and chunks of concrete. In the Turkish city of Adana, one resident said three buildings near his home collapsed. "I don't have the strength anymore," one survivor could be heard calling out from beneath the rubble, as rescue workers tried to reach him, said the resident, journalism student Muhammet Fatih Yavus. Further 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. [caption id="attachment_33274" align="alignnone" width="1000"] People search through the wreckage of a collapsed building in Azmarin town, in Idlib province, northern Syria, on Monday, February 6, 2023. Photo: AP via RSS[/caption] On the Syrian side of the border, the quake smashed opposition-held regions that are packed with some 4 million people displaced from other parts of Syria by the country's long civil war. Many of them live in decrepit conditions with little health care, with Russian-backed Syrian forces surrounding the area and sometimes carrying out airstrikes. Rescue workers said hospitals in the area were packed. "We fear that the deaths are in the hundreds," Muheeb Qaddour, a doctor, said by phone from the town of Atmeh, referring to the entire rebel-held area. Raed Salah, the head of the White Helmets, the emergency organization in opposition areas, said whole neighbourhoods collapsed in some areas. The quake, felt as far away as Cairo, was centred about 90 kilometres (60 miles) from the Syrian border, just north of the city of Gaziantep, a major Turkish provincial capital of more than 2 million people. The region has been shaped by more than a decade of war in Syria. Millions of Syrian refugees live in Turkey. The swath of Syria affected by the quake is divided between government-held and opposition-held areas. [caption id="attachment_33275" align="alignnone" width="1000"] A man searches collapsed buildings in Diyarbakir, southern Turkey, early Monday, February 6, 2023. Photo: AP via RSS[/caption] At least 20 aftershocks followed, some hours later during daylight, the strongest measuring 6.6, Turkish authorities said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Twitter that "search and rescue teams were immediately dispatched" to the areas hit by the quake. "We hope that we will get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with the least damage," he wrote. Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management agency said at least 76 people in seven Turkish provinces. The agency said 440 people were injured. The death toll in government-held areas of Syria climbed to 111 with at least 516 injured, according to Syrian state media. Earlier, 47 people were reported killed in rebel-held areas. Buildings were reported collapsed in a swath from Syria's cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey's Diyarbakir, more than 330 kilometres (200 miles) to the northeast. In Turkey, people trying to leave the quake-stricken regions caused traffic jams, hampering the 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. In Diyarbakir, rescue teams called for silence as they tried to listen for survivors under the wreckage of an 11-story building. Rescue workers pulled out one man, carrying him on a stretcher through a dense crowd of hundreds of people anxiously watching the rescue efforts. A grey-haired woman wailed before being escorted away by a man, while a rescue worker wearing a white helmet tried to calm a crying girl, who was also being cuddled by two friends. In northwest Syria, the opposition's Syrian Civil Defence described the situation in the rebel-held region as "disastrous" adding that entire buildings have collapsed and people are trapped under the rubble. The civil defence urged people to evacuate buildings to gather in open areas. Emergency rooms were full of injured, said Amjad Rass, president of the Syrian American Medical Society. [caption id="attachment_33278" align="alignnone" width="1000"] A 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook central Turkey early Monday and was followed by a strong aftershock. Image: AP via RSS[/caption] The US Geological Survey said the quake was centred about 33 kilometres (20 miles) from Gaziantep. It was centred 18 kilometres (11 miles) deep. In Damascus, buildings shook and many people went down to the streets in fear. The quake jolted residents in Lebanon from beds, shaking buildings for about 40 seconds. Many residents of Beirut left their homes and took to the streets or drove in their cars away from buildings. [caption id="attachment_33276" align="alignnone" width="1024"] People try to reach trapped residents in a collapsed building in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, early Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful earthquake has caused significant damage in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. Damage was reported across several Turkish provinces, and rescue teams were being sent from around the country.(AP Photo/Mahmut Bozarsan)[/caption] The earthquake came as the Middle East is experiencing a snowstorm that is expected to continue until Thursday. 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. By RSS/AP READ ALSO:

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