ANKARA, Feb 6: Over three thousand people were found dead till late in the
night after two powerful earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria on Monday in a
span of 12 hours. The death toll is likely to cross 16.000, it is estimated, as
tens of thousands of buildings have collapsed across most of south-eastern
Turkey.
The first quake of 7.8 magnitude on the Richter scale struck Turkey and
north-west Syria at 4 am local time (6:00 IST). It was at a depth of 17.9 km
near the city of Gaziantep in Turkey. And the second one was of 7.7
magnitude, that hit Malatya in Kahramanmaras province of Turkey.
In 1999, a more devastating quake killed 17,000 people. But that was of the
same magnitude as of Monday's. In 1939, 32,000 people were killed in another
quake.
Reports of heavy casualties are coming from all major cities of Turkey and north-west
of Syria. Casualties will go up as people were sleeping when the first quake
struck.
BBC said 1,000 people died in Turkey and 780 in Syria. Over 5,000 people were
injured in Turkey and 2,000 in Syria.
Buildings in the affected areas have collapsed and search and rescue operation
is on. Among a notable loss was the ancient Gaziantep Castle.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is appealing for international help.
Syria said most of the casualties were in Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartus. Most of the victims were refugees of the war.
The quake was felt in Cairo, Cyprus, Lebanon and Israel.
