He strong earthquake of magnitude 7.7 that shook Turkey and Syria this morning has left more than 2,700 dead and almost 14,000 wounded in both countries, and has demolished thousands of buildings.
At least 1,651 people have died and another 11,119 have been injured in Turkeyaccording to the emergency service of this country, Afad.
In Syria, embroiled in more than a decade of civil war, the affected area is divided between territory controlled by Bashar al-Assad’s government and the last opposition-controlled enclave of the country, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces.
Thus, the earthquake has left at least 570 dead and 1,403 injured in Damascus-held areas in the northwestern provinces of Tartus, Latakia, Hama and Aleppo, according to the agency A LOT.
On the other hand, in the northwestern province of Idlib, the last opposition stronghold in the country, and in other parts of neighboring Aleppo that also escape the control of Damascus, They have recorded another 480 fatalities and some 1,500 injuredaccording to the White Helmets rescue group.
It is foreseeable that the figure will increase considerably, since hundreds of buildings have collapsed or suffered serious damage and people still remain in the rubble. Afad has reported that it has deployed more than 9,700 rescuers, while 13 countries of the European Union offered this Monday teams search and rescue, the European Commission reported.
THE NUMBER OF VICTIMS WILL INCREASE
The first major earthquake was recorded at 04:17 (01.17 GMT) and had a magnitude of 7.7 degrees, according to the Turkish emergency service Afad, with its epicenter in Pazarcik in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras. Subsequently, several tremors occurred, one of them measuring 7.6 magnitude.
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoganstated that some 45 countries have offered help after the devastating earthquake and the strong aftershocks that are still going on: “It is the strongest quake since the 1939 Erzincan earthquake.. According to the latest evaluations it is 7.7. There is serious damage also in neighboring areas of Syria,” she said.
The Turkish president confirmed that they have registered collapses or serious damage to 3,700 buildings and what had rescued alive 2,470 people of the rubble. “As debris removal work continues in many buildings in the earthquake zone, we don’t know how high the number of deaths and injuries will be,” Erdogan said.
The low temperatures and the snow in the area, where there are also mountainous territories that are difficult to access, complicate the rescue tasks.