Another 7.5-magnitude earthquake shakes Turkey; In the movement that also affected northern Syria, the dead exceeded 1,500

The region where Turkey and its neighbor Syria are located continues to be heavily trembled. A new 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Turkey on Monday afternoon, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported, hours after another quake killed nearly 1,500 people in the region.

The tremor was registered at 1:24 p.m. (10:24 a.m. GMT) four kilometers southeast of the town of Ekinozu.

The 7.8-magnitude quake was centered in Kahramanmaras province and struck southern Turkey and northern Syria overnight, and was followed by another powerful 7.5-magnitude tremor in the same region around 10: 24 GMT.

In Turkey, where the epicenter was registered, at least 912 people died and nearly 5,400 were injured, according to the latest balance reported by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Some 2,818 buildings collapsed with the tremor, which suggests a much more serious balance.

In neighboring Syria, the tremor caused at least 560 deaths: the official agency SANA, which quotes the Ministry of Health, reported at least 339 people dead and 1,089 injured in areas under government control in this country at war. The White Helmets, which operate in the rebel-held parts of Syria, said there were at least 221 dead and 419 wounded in those sectors.

The tremors of the powerful earthquake that shook southern Turkey and northern Syria on Monday, causing more than 1,500 deaths, were felt even in Greenland, the Danish geological institute announced.

“The strong earthquakes in Turkey were clearly recorded by the seismographs in Denmark and Greenland,” seismologist Tine Larsen told AFP.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said 2,818 buildings collapsed after the first tremor, describing it as the country’s “biggest disaster” since 1939, when a major earthquake struck the eastern province of Erzincan. In 1999, a quake of similar magnitude devastated Izmit and the densely populated eastern Sea of ​​Marmara region near Istanbul, killing more than 17,000 people.

“Everyone is putting their heart and soul into the efforts, although the winter season, cold weather and the earthquake that occurs overnight make things more difficult,” he told reporters at a news conference at the center. Turkey’s disaster coordination office in Ankara.

“We do not know how high the number of casualties will be as efforts to remove the rubble from various buildings in the earthquake zone continue,” Erdogan said.

victims under rubble

The balance is very likely to worsen quickly, taking into account the number of buildings collapsed in the most affected cities, such as Adana, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa and Diayarbakir, in southeastern Turkey.

Due to the time the earthquake occurred, at dawn, most people were sleeping at home.

“My sister and her three children are under the rubble. Also her husband, her mother-in-law and her mother-in-law. Seven members of our family are under the rubble,” Muhittin Orakci told AFP as he witnessed rescue operations outside a dilapidated building in Diyarbakir.

Turkey is located in one of the most active seismic zones in the world. (YO)