The total death toll after the earthquake in Turkey and Syria on Monday (6) reached 2300 people. The quakes killed 1,498 people and injured at least 8,533, according to Turkey’s Emergency and Disaster Management Authority (AFAD).

A total of 2,834 buildings collapsed, raising fears of even more victims. 800 people have died in Syria.

Earthquake in Turkey and Syria this Monday (6) – Photo: Youssef KARVASHAN / AFPTV / RUDAW / TURKISH PRESIDENCE / AFP

The White Helmets, which operate in rebel-controlled areas of Syria, have reported at least 380 dead and more than 1,000 injured in those sectors.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS, abbreviation in English), the jolt was felt at 4:17 am (10:17 pm Sunday Brazil time) at a depth of 17.9 km.

Earthquake in Turkey and Syria this Monday (6) – Video: Youssef KARVASHAN / AFPTV / RUDAW / TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL / AFP

The epicenter was located in the Pazardzhik region, in the province of Kahramanmaras, in southeastern Turkey, about 60 km from the border with Syria.

A new earthquake of magnitude 7.5 hit the region at 13:24 (12:24 GMT), four kilometers southeast of the city of Ekinoso, according to the US Geological Survey. About 50 aftershocks also occurred, according to Ankara.

According to the Danish Geological Survey, the tremors from the earthquake were felt even in Greenland.

It is highly likely that the death toll will rise rapidly given the number of destroyed buildings in the hardest hit cities such as Adana, Gaziantep, Sanlıurfa and Diayarbakır in southeastern Turkey.

Due to the earthquake at dawn, most people were asleep in their homes.

“My sister and her three children are under the rubble. And also her husband, her father-in-law and her mother-in-law. Seven members of our family are under the rubble,” Muhittin Orakci told AFP after witnessing rescue efforts in front of a destroyed building in Diyarbakır.

“His sister is still under the rubble,” said one woman, pointing to another devastated victim in the same city.

blocked airports

For security reasons, the gas supply was cut off in the region due to tremors that could provoke explosions. Iraqi Kurdistan has said it will suspend oil exports via Turkey as a precautionary measure.

This is the largest earthquake in Turkey since August 17, 1999, which killed 17,000 people, 1,000 of them in Istanbul.

According to Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay, at least three airports in the affected area – Hatay, Maras and Gaziantep – are closed to traffic. Snow and storms hitting the region hampered traffic at other airports, including Diyarbakir, AFP reported.

“We hear voices here and there. We think that there are about 200 people among the wreckage, ”said the rescue team in Diyarbakir, NTV reported.

Some images on Turkish television and social media show frightened people in pajamas wandering through the snow and watching rescuers clear the rubble of their homes.

Meanwhile, Syrian state television reported the collapse of a building near Latakia on the country’s west coast.

Pro-government media reported on the partial collapse of several buildings in Hama in central Syria, where firefighters and rescuers tried to pull a survivor out of the rubble.

The head of Syria’s National Seismic Monitoring Center, Raed Ahmed, told official radio that it was “historically the strongest earthquake ever recorded.”

The earthquake provoked scenes of panic. Many residents took to the streets despite the pouring rain.

international assistance

The Turkish president, whose attitude to the tragedy will make a big difference in the disputed elections on May 14, called for national unity. “We hope to get out of this disaster together as quickly and with as little damage as possible,” he wrote on Twitter.

The European Union (EU) and many of its member countries have announced the deployment of relief and rescue teams. So did the United States, Britain, Israel, India and Ukraine, as well as Greece, Turkey’s historical rival, which has pledged to “provide all its forces,” said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Pope Francis expressed “deep sorrow” over the incident, while Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the leaders of Turkey and Syria and offered to “render the necessary assistance” from Russia in connection with this tragedy. Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed condolences to the two countries.

Azerbaijan, a country close to Turkey, announced the immediate dispatch of 370 rescuers, according to the official Turkish news agency. Turkey is located in one of the most active seismic zones in the world.

Experts have long warned that a major earthquake could destroy Istanbul, allowing large-scale construction without precaution.

In January 2020, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Elazig, killing more than 40 people. In October of that year, another magnitude 7.0 impact rocked the Aegean Sea, killing 114 people and injuring more than a thousand.