News Desk
ISTANBUL/DAMASCUS: More than 900 were killed, and hundreds of others were wounded in a deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rattled Turkey and Syria on Monday.
Rescue efforts were underway to save people trapped beneath the wreckage after hundreds of buildings collapsed in both countries.
Pictures and video footage of the affected areas showed widespread devastation, with buildings submerged to the ground and crushed vehicles on roads. The death toll is expected to surge further.
Turkey has declared a state of emergency and urged people not to use cellphones to allow rescuers to coordinate.
Dozens of aftershocks have also been felt in the hours since the earthquake struck in the early hours of Monday. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu urged people to avoid entering damaged buildings citing risks.
Syria’s President Bashar Assad also chaired an emergency meeting amid reports of largescale destruction.
Quake felt as far away as Cairo
Millions of people across Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Israel, and even Egypt felt the tremor that was centred north of the Turkish city of Gaziantep in an area about 95 kilometers (60 miles) from the Syrian border.
The tremor’s depth was 24.1 kilometers (14.9 miles), according to the US Geological Service.
Turkey is placed on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. A powerful earthquake that hit the country’s northwest in 1999 claimed around 18,000 lives.
