Turkey lives a day of anxiety after the devastating earthquake that shook that country this Monday. The death toll from the earthquake It already leaves 1,400 dead and 6,000 injured.
(Read: Tremor in Turkey: images of the strong earthquake of 7.8 magnitude)
The epicenter of the quake, which lasted about 30 seconds at around 4:17 Turkish time, was the Kahramanmaras region and the quake occurred at a depth of seven kilometers, said the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) of Turkey.
In Turkey, the fatalities are at least 912 and more than 5,000 injured.
In Syria, another 473 deaths and 1,382 injuries have been reported so far. In areas controlled by the Syrian government, 326 deaths have been reported, in addition to more than a thousand injuries, while in areas controlled by the opposition, there are 147 fatalities and more than 300 injuries.
The provisional balance, offered by Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay, also accounts for 1,710 buildings collapsed in ten provinces of south-eastern Anatolia, with Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras the most severely affected.
In Gaziantep, the industrial economic center of southern Anatolia, there were at least 80 deaths, and in neighboring Kahramanmaras, where 300 buildings collapsed, there are currently 70, Oktay said at a press conference.
There were also 47 deaths in Malatya, 20 in Osmaniye, 18 in Sanliurfa, 14 in Diyarbakir, 13 in Adiyaman, 10 in Adana, eight in Kilis and four in Hatay, according to data from the vice president.
In the city of Alexandretta, in Hatay province, part of a hospital has collapsed, it added.
🇹🇷 | URGENT: A hospital in the city of Şanlıurfa in southern Turkey was completely destroyed by the earthquake, it is feared that many patients are trapped under the rubble with search and rescue operations still ongoing.pic.twitter.com/OFO4wq9NyC
– Alert News 24 (@AlertaNews24) February 6, 2023
The airports of Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras and Hatay have been closed for the time being, with the first two already affected by snowfall caused by a cold wave that has spread across southern Anatolia in recent days.
Heavy snowfall in Malatya, a city located at an altitude of 1,000 meters, makes rescue efforts difficult and aggravates the conditions of trapped people and those who have made it to safety outside.
In the city of Adana, on the Mediterranean coast, a 14-story building has completely collapsed, and similar events are taking place in Diyarbakir, a city located 250 kilometers east of the epicenter of the quake.
One of the symbols of the enormous destruction of the quake is the historic Roman castle of Gaziantep, which had stood for more than 1,700 years and has been leveled by the quake.
In Syria, embroiled in more than a decade of civil war, the affected area is divided between government-controlled territory and the last opposition-controlled enclave of the country, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces.
EFE
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