Major Quake Kills More Than 100 Across T�rkiye, Syria

Istanbul, Feb 6 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Feb, 2023 ) :A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit T�rkiye and Syria on Monday, killing more than 100 people, levelling buildings while many were still asleep, and sending tremors that were felt as far away as the island of Cyprus and Egypt.

Emergency service officials in T�rkiye put the initial death toll at 76, although it threatened to climb substantially higher because the night-time disaster had flattened dozens of apartment blocks across major cities.

At least 50 people also died in government-controlled parts of Syria, as well as the northern areas, according to state media and a local hospital.

Television images showed shocked people in T�rkiye standing in the snow in their pyjamas, watching rescuers dig through the debris of damaged homes.

The quake struck at 04:17 am local time (0117 GMT) at a depth of about 17.9 kilometres (11 miles), the US Geological Survey said, with a 6.7-magnitude aftershock striking 15 minutes later.

Turkey's AFAD emergencies service centre put the first quake's magnitude at 7.4, adding that it was followed by dozens of aftershocks.

The earthquake was one of the most powerful to hit the region in at least a century, affecting southeastern parts of T�rkiye that are home to millions of refugees from Syria and other war-torn regions.

"There are many damaged buildings," AFAD chief Orhan Tatar said in nationally televised remarks. "People should avoid buildings." Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who will be under pressure to oversee an effective response to the disaster heading to a tightly-contested May 14 election, conveyed his sympathies and urged national unity.

"We hope that we will get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with the least damage," the Turkish leader tweeted.

The earthquake levelled dozens of buildings across major cities of southern T�rkiye as well as neighbouring Syria, a country gripped by more than a decade of violence that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions of people.

Images on Turkish television and social media showed rescuers digging through the rubble of levelled buildings in the city of Kahramanmaras and neighbouring Gaziantep.

A fire lit up the night sky in one image from Kahramanmaras, although its origin remained unclear.

NTV television said buildings also crumbled in the cities of Adiyaman, Malatya and Diyarbakir.

Kahramanmaras Governor Omer Faruk Coskun said it was too early to estimate the death toll because so many buildings were destroyed.

"It is not possible to give the number of dead and injured at the moment because so many buildings have been destroyed," Coskun said. "The damage is serious." A famous mosque dating back to the 13th century partially collapsed in the province of Maltaya.

In other cities, rescuers sounded anguished as they struggled to reach survivors trapped under the debris.

"We hear voices here -- and over there, too," one rescuer was overheard as saying on NTV television in front of a flattened building in the city of Diyarbakir.

"There may be 200 people under the rubble."