Death toll surpasses 2,400 as sun sets over devastated sites in Turkey and Syria

Colombo (No.1 news) – Thousands of rescue workers collapsed apartments as the sun sets over more than a dozen devastated cities across southern Turkey and northern Syria after Monday’s earthquake killed more than 2,400 people continued the grueling task of digging up the rubble of , a further 10,300 were injured.

Almost everyone was asleep at 4:17 a.m. when the magnitude 7.8 quake struck, causing more than 3,000 buildings to collapse to the ground. By nightfall, Turkiye had reported over 1,500 dead, while in Syria he had over 900 bodies recovered. Hospitals were overwhelmed by the number of injured.

Rescue teams from more than a dozen countries were on their way to Turkey as the world reacted to President Recip Erdogan’s call for immediate assistance. The government is also seeking help in neighboring Syria, but it is not clear how far International Rescue will go into the war zone in the north of the country. Much of Syria’s devastation is in areas not under government control.

Freezing temperatures and snowstorms hampered rescue efforts in parts of Turkey. The threat of aftershocks is also very real, with more than 30 felt aftershocks in a single day, including one massive tremor of magnitude 7.5.

It was the region’s largest earthquake in over 100 years, felt in at least 10 countries, and shook buildings as far away as Romania, Iraq and Egypt. The epicenter was 25 km west of the Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the border with Syria.

Turkey reported deaths in seven provinces and Syria reported deaths in three provinces. Hundreds of buildings collapsed and rescue teams, who were digging through the rubble in desperate hope of finding trapped survivors, were hit by numerous fires.

The earthquake occurred at the triple junction of three tectonic plates of the Earth (Anatolia, Arabia and Africa). According to data from the US Geological Survey, it occurred 17.9 km below the surface along a line 190 km long and 25 km wide. According to the USGS, the second largest quake in the region occurred 10 km underground along a line 120 km long and 18 km wide.

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