ANKARA, February 6. /TASS/. A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake hit Turkey’s southeastern province of Kahramanmaras on Monday, killing 284 people in Turkey and another 239 in Syria.
According to Turkish seismologists, the quake could be one of the most destructive on record in the region. TASS has gathered the basic information about the aftermath of the earthquake.
Casualties and damage
According to the latest data, at least 284 people were killed and over 500 suffered injuries in southeastern Turkey. The quake’s death toll in Syria has reached 239, while the number of injuries has surpassed 600. There have been no reports of casualties and damage from areas not controlled by Damascus.
Damage has been recorded in several Turkish provinces, including Adana, Gaziantep, Diyarbakir, Kahramanmaras, Malatya and Sanliurfa. The governor of the Kahramanmaras province reported major damage, adding that it was currently impossible to determine the overall number of casualties. The Al-Hadath TV channel said that dozens of people remained trapped under the rubble in the Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia and Hama. Railway service was suspended in the country’s north.
According to the Yeni Safak newspaper, a historic fortress in the Turkish province of Gaziantep, on UNESCO's World Heritage List, collapsed in the quake.
Highest alarm level
According to Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, the country’s authorities declared the maximum level 4 alarm due to the natural disaster, which involves international assistance in dealing with the quake’s aftermath. Rescue teams have been dispatched to southeastern Turkey from other regions of the country to pull people from the rubble.
In other countries
Tremors were also felt in the capital of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicosia, many regions of Lebanon and the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, where a Russian delegation led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is currently on a visit.
Italy’s Civil Protection Department issued a tsunami warning for the country’s south.
International response
Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences over the deadly earthquake to his Turkish and Syrian counterparts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad, highlighting Moscow’s readiness to provide assistance to Ankara and Damascus in dealing with the aftermath of the quake.
The US administration is ready to provide assistance to help with the earthquake rescue effort, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said. American businessman Elon Musk expressed willingness to send Starlink terminals to Turkey if necessary.
Expert forecast
Turkish seismologists are already comparing the quake to the one that rocked the country in 1999. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck near the city of Izmit back then killed nearly 17,500 people and proved to be the most devastating to ever impact the country.